Cursed Touch
by Rurouni Star
Summary: [MK] Kagome leaves the Feudal Era behind along with a smoking crater of a hanyou. But dreams plague her with darkness and a horrible feeling of imminent death... [complete]
1. Swallowed by the Black

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

**A/N: Well… let's see how this one turns out, shall we? I'm most certainly not giving up on ALAP (as it happens to be my favorite). Instead, I am taking on the wonderful task of writing two fics at once. I have failed before. I will try again. Please forgive me if I suck at it.**

**Prologue: Swallowed by the Black**

"SIT!"

_Thud._

"SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT- mmph!"

Inuyasha groaned from his crater. Kagome ripped Miroku's hand from her mouth and shot a poisoned glare at the priest – he backed away quietly. She turned her attention back to the smoking hanyou.

"You…you…" Kagome was, apparently, unable to find the right words for what exactly Inuyasha was. "I just spent the better half of two months helping you find your shards! And when I ask for three days – _three days!_ – you…"

She took a deep breath. It seemed that Inuyasha was in dire danger of another few sits before Sango put a hand on Kagome's shoulder. "I think that's enough, Kagome-chan," the demon hunter said softly. But Sango did send her own glare Inuyasha's way. "Not that he doesn't deserve it."

Kagome huffed in annoyance, but the beginnings of guilt were stirring in the back of her mind… she clamped down on them. The jerk deserved it.

"Goodbye, Inuyasha," she said authoritively. "I'll be gone for three days. If you feel like apologizing – shut up."

With that, she turned smartly on her heel and disappeared into the woods in the general direction of a certain wooden well.

Inuyasha snarled something beneath his breath. Shippo blinked and leaned closer. "What was that?" the fox asked curiously.

"See who…fucking apologizes… damn bitch…"

Shippo frowned. The next instant, Inuyasha let out a yell of anger as a bit of blue foxfire puffed into his face.

"AS SOON AS MY LEGS WORK, I AM GOING TO HUNT YOU DOWN AND KILL YOU!"

Shippo snickered and ran off toward the well – the one place that Inuyasha would be avoiding for at least a few hours.

Miroku shook his head and sighed. "You really should hold in your temper more," he admonished. "You're certainly not going to win any points with Kagome-sama by calling her names."

The hanyou muttered some choice words to him as well.

He also got the butt of a staff pressed into his back.

"There now. Much more pleasant," the priest commented as Inuyasha went temporarily silent. "Now if you could only _stay_ that way for an extended length of time, we could all live more stress-free lives."

            Sango chuckled despite herself. Inuyasha had had it coming to him. In the last few days especially, he had been acting irritated. Or… more so than normal. She'd caught enough of Miroku's rather unsubtle hints to know that it was because there was 'a soul-stealing, undead twin' around.

            The demon hunter shook her head resignedly. She would, of course, be the one to patch the poor hanyou up after the mess. Miroku didn't seem in the mood today – despite the fact that he usually put up with Inuyasha's antics rather well, something seemed to be weighing on his mind today.

            "All right, baka," she told the still silent hanyou. "One uncivil word and I'm leaving you to the birds."

            Inuyasha's only response was a soft 'feh'.

**

            Kagome had hopped down the well, climbed up the ladder, and opened the door to the well house before realizing that it was easier than normal.

            Suspiciously so.

            The thought bothered her for a few moments, and she sat down on the wooden steps to contemplate such a thing.

            The girl sighed. Her mind was working on low power lately, what with sleeping on the ground and getting baths only once every few days… she reached for a box of pocky from her backpack.

            And realized it wasn't there.

            "Oh." She frowned. "Ohhhhhh. Darn it. I'm going to have to go back. I just subdued him too!"

            Kagome sighed, resigning herself to yet another battle of wills (and more sits) before pushing her legs back over the edge of the well. The girl jumped unceremoniously – had the ground not fallen out from beneath her, she may well have broken something. But she was used to it – the transfer between worlds. It had only failed to work once before.

            She scowled as she remembered _why_ it hadn't worked.

            Furious thoughts were still running through her head as her feet touched down gently onto the bottom of the well – the same well, the same dirt, and the same her. Just different points in time, really.

            "Yeah, well, same stupid domineering hanyou too." She violently suppressed the little fluttering in her chest as she thought about him – Kagome was angry. She was going to stay that way.

            The girl curled her hand around the usual vine and pulled herself up from the ground. Her feet dangled for a few seconds before steadying her against the side of the well. Kagome climbed slowly, intensely irritated that she had to get up without any help this time. Of course, it was partially her fault for sitting Inu Yasha senseless, but it had been his fault for telling her no and being a jerk about it. And she had a feeling he wouldn't be helping her up if he _had been able to move anyway._

            With these thoughts firmly in mind, she got about a quarter of the way up before stopping with a sigh. She was sore from being marched to the edge of her limits. She was tired of trying to kill demons and purify shards and kill whatever stupid monsters Naraku put in their way. Her hands were shaking just holding onto the vine.

            Kagome thought seriously about giving up the climb and just going back. What did she need her backpack for, anyway? To restock Inuyasha's ramen?

            She snorted. Yeah right. Not this time, buddy.

            The fingers of her right hand had already let go of the vine – when another warm hand caught them.

            "Pull up, I've got you," Miroku said. Kagome unconsciously grasped his hand tighter; he pulled her up easily, although nowhere near as quickly as Inuyasha was able.

            Kagome let out a squeak, though, when they went tumbling to the ground together outside the well. Miroku blinked at the girl that was suddenly on top of him.

            He shook away the wicked thoughts that entered his head and pulled her up, a hand on the small of her back. "Ah… apparently I _was_ a little unbalanced." The monk grinned sheepishly. Kagome let out her breath.

            "Sorry. I just forgot-"

            "This?" Miroku picked up her yellow backpack in his arms, straining somewhat. One strap frayed slightly. She winced.

            "Yeah. That." She sighed. "Did you carry that all the way here?"

            Miroku chuckled. "I need a good workout now and then. After all, I've only been killing youkai the last few days. Slacking so much… what would Mushin say?"

            Kagome laughed despite herself. She realized in alarm that her anger had dissolved. The girl tried to grasp at it, to get it back – but when the monk kept talking, the last bits of it slipped away. "Do you need some help getting it down the well?"

            She blinked. And… blushed. Miroku probably didn't know about the 'I'll carry your books for you' idea in modern times. "Um…" 

            "Is that a 'yes' um or a 'I'm afraid where your hands will go' um?" His grin widened.

            Kagome laughed again. Suddenly she felt much more energetic. "I don't know. Should I be afraid?"

            Miroku dropped the backpack and swept her into his arms, trying to keep his face straight. "Yes, Kagome-sama. Very afraid. You might find yourself lost in my boyish good looks – and poor Inuyasha would have no one to insult anymore."

            Despite the rather odd position, Kagome snickered. "Whatever _would he do?"_

            "Probably build up that constant irritation of his until he exploded. I admit, I'm feeling more and more interested in seeing such a thing lately." Miroku tried to ignore the twitching of his hand. It _wanted to touch her… and obviously, as she'd not left his arms yet, _she_ wanted him to touch her…_

            Kagome slipped from his arms in the critical instant and sat down on the grass, her back against the well. "Join the club," she groused, some of her sullen anger returning, "three days is _not_ that much."

            Miroku shrugged and sat down as well, secretly glad that he didn't have to follow through with carrying the overly large backpack down the well just yet. "You know he's only angry when you leave because you're not with him."

            Kagome raised an eyebrow and snorted. "Yeah. Finding shards. He told me that."

            The Houshi shook his head helplessly. No one really understood Inuyasha. He didn't even want to claim to. "Alternatively, he could just be a perpetually angry person. Far be it for me to guess."

            Kagome frowned. "I'll take perpetually angry. It sounds about right."

            Miroku knew that wasn't right. But he kept his mouth shut – he was sitting next to a beautiful girl in a short skirt that wasn't jumping away in suspicion. 

            He reflected that now he had an obligation not to grope her.

            Darn.

            "Well," he supplied. "Try to look at it from Inuyasha's perspective."

            Silence. Kagome blinked.

            "Yes?"

            Miroku rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "I'm not sure _I know. But that's what I'm supposed to say, isn't it?"_

            "Bah," Kagome muttered. "I liked you better when you were agreeing with everything I said." She sighed, and got ready to get up. The girl tugged at something on her neck and put something into his hand. "Just in case. You never know when someone will have to get through."

            He blinked and looked down. A Shikon shard glinted palely in his hand, bathing it in a soft violet light. "You probably shouldn't, you know," he said. "Inuyasha would be furious."

            Kagome's eyes narrowed. "Like he's not for the other twenty three hours already." She got to her feet. "Well. It's time to haul the load down the well." She slipped a hand beneath one of the backpack's straps and struggled to lift it. Miroku helped her pull it up onto her shoulders. 

            "You're sure you don't need help?" he asked, somewhat suspicious as she tipped backward slightly.

            "No, no, I'm fine. I can handle a backpack." But Kagome laughed nervously nevertheless... "See you in three days. If Inuyasha doesn't come drag me back before then." She sniffed – and jumped.

            Miroku watched as she disappeared down into the darkness of the bone-eater's well. It never failed to unnerve him, priest though he was. He leaned against the edge of the well, thinking.

            What did he really know about Kagome? What did _any_ of them really know about her? Excepting Inuyasha, none of them even knew where she lived. She was constantly talking about these 'examinations' of hers as though they were the most important thing in the world. Perhaps they were, to her. But then, how did she get away from them so much of the time to come find shards with them?

            He shook his head and turned away from the well. Miroku walked back to the village, musing to himself about what kind of time the future really was…

**

            Kagome sighed in absolute pleasure. Bath. Bath. Bath. She hadn't had a true, hot bath in what felt like _ages_. And she had a warm bed waiting for her, beckoning to her…

            _Sleep in me, Kagome… _

            She made a noise of amusement before pulling herself from the bath to make her way to other future-ly happiness. Kagome dried off slowly, reveling in the fact that it wasn't freezing as she did so.

            Ah, the little things.

            "Hey sis! We're having Oden tonight!"

            Yes. And the big things.

            "ODEN! Yay, mom, you're the best!"

*

            She snuggled into the warm covers happily, turning off her alarm clock. Sunday. Hee. She hadn't seen Sunday – a _real_ Sunday – in months. And she got to spend the sleeping in hours in a real bed.

            Kagome felt herself drift off in a world of comfy, fluffy happiness, unhassled for once and unworried. Her heavy lids lowered sleepily…

            _Darkness…black…whistling wind…_

_            A numbness in her right hand, where feeling should be…_

_            And it was spreading._

_            "That's right," a voice whispered, taunted. "Feel it. It eats at you day by day. It might be tonight…"_

_             No. I'll defeat you before that happens._

_            "…it might be tomorrow…"_

_            I will never give in to you._

_            "…the next day or the next…you never know when death will come to collect…"_

_            You're spouting lies. It's too slow to do that._

_            "You're guessing, grasping. You know you can't win. You're hampered. Fettered by your attachment to a group of people that don't care. They don't see it stretching, sucking, growing-"_

_            Shut up._

_            "You know it's true. They'll be your death…"_

_            I'll take you with me first!_

_            "Not if you never find me. Not if you never move, if you never even leave that stinking, rotting village they've stuck you in while you wait to die…"_

_            Shut up!_

_            "You do know. You know you fight a futile battle… Houshi."_

_            **SHUT UP! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!**_

            Kagome gasped, coming awake all at once.

            What _was that? It was almost… as though she'd been listening to something. Something she wasn't supposed to be listening to. It made her feel ill. Those had been private thoughts. She had no right to hear them._

            Her mind began to clear. The last few words echoed in her mind dully.

            _Houshi._

            Could it be… no. That wasn't possible. He'd just been laughing with her that day, joking with her and getting ready to grope her…

            She tried to ignore it. It wasn't possible – all of that was in the past. There was no way she could hear it five hundred years in the future.

            But… the thought came unbidden. She'd talked to Inuyasha through the time tree. If there were some connection – any connection…

            The blanket slipped from her chest slowly, and a pale violet light arose in the room. Kagome took a single, shuddering breath and looked downward, knowing what she would see but hoping she was wrong.

            The Shikon shards in her necklace winked in the dark of the night.


	2. Unease

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

**Can't…respond…too many…reviews…**

**I love you people. You know that, yes? Keep them coming and I shall keep writing. Both stories, I mean it. I'm just getting this one well started; I'll get back to ALAP in a few days.**

**Yeah. I know. No comfort.**

**Oooh, but I do have one shoutout: What happened to Oddity? I _miss it!_**

**Chapter 1 – Unease**

_"It is impossible to experience one's death objectively and still carry a tune."_

                                                -**Woody Allen**

            Miroku woke with a start, gasping for air. His right hand was clenched tightly into a desperate fist – tiny shoots of pain went through it from the beads that dug into the skin. He relaxed it uneasily, almost expecting death to come as it opened once more. But the beads still held; and the hole was still closed.

            He shuddered, running a hand through his hair. Naraku had taken rather painful amusement from the latest 'conversation'. Normally the evil hanyou gave up reminding him of his doom by the third time he ignored him. It was becoming a trial to do so now, though… the nightmares were wearing his nerves thin. It was only a matter of time before his normally congenial, laid back personality turned into Inuyasha's – which was much more frightening than death, Miroku thought, the corners of his mouth tugging upward slightly.

            The monk laid back against the wall of Kaede's hut once more, intending to pull a few more hours of sleep out of the troublesome night. But he found that such a sleep refused to come. After a sigh of exasperation (at least he might be able to sleep more while Kagome was gone) the Houshi rose from his spot and walked to the door softly, pushing aside the reeds that acted as a door.

            The night was cool and calm, moon rising over a deserted countryside. A slight mistiness pervaded the world, creating a serenity that belied the dream he'd just woken from. His feet began to move on their own, much as his right hand did on occasion. Apparently, they had decided that he needed a good walk to soothe his nerves.

            He had no specific destination in mind, really. Therefore, it was a complete surprise when he found himself staring down into the eerie darkness of the bone-eater's well for the second time that day.

            "…_never even leave that stinking, rotting village they've stuck you in while you wait to die…"_

            The thought troubled him. Of course he'd thought of Kagome's absences like that before – it was impossible to not know that each day he spent waiting was another day of his shortened life, gone by. Another chance to kill Naraku wasted.

            But these were unworthy thoughts. He could hardly expect her to give up her family forever. At least she still had one – could any of them even claim something similar?

            The monk turned away, picking his way back up to the village. A few minutes' times found him sitting in front of the hut, staring up at the moon and listening to the beat of his own heart.  
 

_Badum.__ Badum. Badum._

            It was hard to believe that it could stop at any moment.

_Badum.__ Badum. Badum._

__

_"You do know. You know you fight a futile battle…"_

Perhaps it was true. But it would be worse not to fight it at all.

**

            She rushed from her bedroom in a flurry of activity. Kagome pulled on some clothes and ran downstairs, glancing at the clock on the way.

            _Two am…_

            She bit her lip as she slipped on her shoes. She couldn't possibly wake anyone at this hour.

            Instead, the girl scrawled a hurried note on the fridge:

            _Gone to past.__ Might or might not be back._

_                                                -Kagome_

            It would have to do.

            The girl flew to the well house, tripping every once and a while as she went. What if Miroku really was dead? What if the hole had swallowed him, what if it had killed him while she selfishly held them up so that she could shower and take silly tests…

            The girl jumped down the well, a half-waking hysteria descending on her hazy mind. If he was dead… it would be her fault… she'd just seen him hours ago, and he would be _gone_…

            The feeling of freefall faded as her feet touched the ground gently. Kagome found herself climbing the vine that had so confounded her before with a new vigor, going up and up and up… she cleared the top of the well and stumbled over the edge slightly, falling onto the grass for an instant and scraping her knee. 

            The rational part of her mind began to set in at this point.

            _He's probably fine… you just had a bad dream…_

            But a voice in the back of her head was telling her that this wasn't so. And that, dream or no dream, she had been doing something horribly wrong.

            She exited the copse of trees that extended from the forest, stumbling slightly as she went. A few of her scratches began to burn in the cold night air. She caught sight of the quiet hut…

            Kagome heaved a sigh of relief.

            Miroku was there. Sleeping outside.

            She had to suppress a bit of hysteric laughter born from the unimaginable relief (had Sango kicked him out _again_?). Kagome approached softly. The monk's forehead rested against one raised knee, his unruly bangs pushed back to the sides. His whole form rose and fell rhythmically.

            "Thank god," she muttered, relieved. But she had to know…

            The girl knelt beside his sleeping form, searching for the tell-tale glow of a Shikon shard. She almost gave up, convinced that it truly was just a bad dream…

            But there! Hidden against his chest! 

            The shard let off an eerie glow in the mist-filled night. The last bit of corruption faded as she neared it – it had somehow turned a pitch black. Kagome bit her lip. 

            It still could have been a dream. She could just be reading too much into it… she frowned. That still didn't make it right. How had she never thought of it? How had she not understood the fact that her tests were leeching away at his _life?_

            The girl snuck into the hut, dimly aware of the other four occupants of the room – Shippo, curled into a ball beside Kirara (who was purring happily), Sango in a bedroll, her hiraikotsu close – and, of course, Inuyasha. Who was looking rather worse for the wear. She reminded herself that he had deserved it at the time, but guilt began to creep into her consciousness. The hanyou's ears twitched as she passed, and she thought she heard a low growl; but his nose sniffed the air, and he relaxed again. She smiled – there was one thing to be grateful for. She wouldn't have to deal with him tonight.

            Kagome crept over to one of the corners, where a pile of neatly folded blankets sat. The girl took one in her arms, shivering slightly as the cold material pulled the heat away from her body. She slipped through the reeds silently and unfolded it, tucking it around the sleeping monk (whose lips were looking somewhat blue). The girl may have simply gone back in – but her eye caught on his gloved hand, which rested in front of him, beneath the monk's other hand.

            She hesitated. But Kagome could still feel the piercing sensation, the empty hollowness…

            She covered the beaded hand with her own tentatively, feeling the spheres shift beneath it. His hand was warm… but she knew he must have felt the same creeping darkness, even in sleep. It amazed her, for some reason, that it shouldn't register when she touched him.

            Kagome looked up and stiffened. Miroku's opened eyes stared back at her.

            "Kagome-sama…?" he said sleepily. She hurriedly removed her hand.

            "Um… it's nothing, Miroku-sama. Go back to sleep." He chuckled and bowed his head again, apparently still very weary. She let her breath out slowly and rose to her feet. Kagome thought longingly of the bed back home for a few moments before walking into the hut herself and settling against a wall. She pulled another blanket around herself, huddling into it.

            This was where she belonged. It was where she had to stay until they defeated Naraku.

            What kind of a friend would she be, otherwise?

**

            Miroku became aware, consciousness returning slowly. The pre-dawn light had awakened him. He put a hand to his mouth, covering a yawn – and blinked as a warm blanket slid down his shoulders.

            What had happened last night?

            _Stretching, sucking, growing…waiting to die…losing battle…_

            And something else. Something else entirely.

            _Something warm… a hand on his…_

            "Ah! Miroku-sama! You're up?"

            _Yes!  That voice! That's the one!_

            Miroku turned around, suddenly quite awake. "And you're back?" he asked Kagome in return. She blushed, embarrassed.

            "I… there was nothing for me to do there. I decided to come back." He suspected it was a lie, but he let it pass. "So we really should get a move on soon, I heard from one of the villagers that there was a youkai worth checking out to the   
north-"

            "You seem very interested in collecting shards all of a sudden," he said wryly, forgetting that he had just decided to let her white lie go. "Could it be that Inuyasha went and bullied you back?"

            Kagome seemed genuinely surprised for a moment. "No… of course not. I would have sit-"

            BAM!

            "BITCH!" came a yell from the inside. "I was _sleeping, damn it!"_

            The peaceful morning was suddenly not so peaceful.

            Kagome's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh my gosh, Inuyasha, I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry!" The so-named hanyou was out there in a moment, scowling deeply; his firerat robes hung from his muscled frame, wrinkled from sleep.

            "Like I'm supposed to believe you!" he accused. "You just say it whenever you damn well feel like it!" His angry expression froze, however, as he came more fully awake. "Hey… wait… you're _back_?"

            Well. There went that possibility.

            Kagome frowned. "What? Is it so amazing that _I_ might want to go shard hunting for once?"

            The hanyou's answer was a gape. After the immediate moment of surprise, he pinched himself. "I've got to be fucking dreaming…" he said as he shook his head. Kagome's frown deepened.

            "Okay, wise guy, then you get firewood duty tonight. _And first watch!"_

            Inuyasha's glare was restored, but it didn't seem as serious for once. "Fine. At least you're back."

            That one drew stares from the two figures exiting the hut. Sango raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Shippo, on the other hand, snickered. "Inuyasha finally pulled that stick out of his-"

            The second loud noise of the day was that of Inuyasha bashing the kit over the head. The rest of the morning was predictable.

            "Waaah! Kagome! He hit meeee!"

            "Shut up and keep still so I can kill you, brat!"

            "Kagome! Help me!"

            "Would you stop bugging her? You're the one that said it!"

            Kagome… rubbed her temples. And sat back down. Sango looked bewildered.

            "I thought you were staying another two days," the taijiya observed. Kagome sighed.

            "So did I…" she muttered beneath her breath. Miroku shot a quizzical glance her way. He pulled the blanket from his shoulders and decided that this time he really _wouldn't_ comment. The monk folded the blanket deftly and went inside to stack it – Kagome's eyes followed him from beneath her bangs. She didn't know what she was expecting – but he hadn't said a word. And neither would she.

            "Kagomeeeeeeeee!" A certain fox kit jumped into her arms, huddled in fear. "He's gonna kill me!"

            Kagome narrowed her eyes at the approaching hanyou, who skidded to a stop, eyes widening in realization…

            And she turned away. Just like that.

            Inuyasha opened one of the eyes he had closed, preparing for impact. Nope. It wasn't just his imagination. He was still upright.

            "Try not to act so violent," Kagome grumbled as she went inside.

            He pinched himself again. When that didn't wake him up, he pinched himself harder (and cursed as the pain was _very_ real).

            What the hell was up with _her_?

**

            Miroku walked forward easily, his shakujo jingling with every step he took. But for all that his outward face held its usual calm smile, inwardly the questions in his head were much too numerous and complicated to answer.

            He put a hand to the shard that rested against his chest unobtrusively. 

            She still hadn't taken it back.

            _"It comes close now, Houshi. Very soon you'll be joining your father and his father."_

            Miroku's face tightened almost imperceptibly, but he kept going… and blinked as he ran into something. It was soft. And… female.

            Kagome, walking ahead of him, had stopped dead in the road. She shivered against him, as though suddenly cold. Miroku blinked.

            "Ah… is something troubling you, Kagome-sama?"

            She sucked in her breath suddenly, and shook her head vigorously. "No. N-nothing."

            He was not an idiot. He knew for certain that it was _not_ "nothing". But what was he supposed to do? If she didn't want to tell him, she wouldn't. And what business was it of his, in any case?

            Miroku reluctantly backed up. "If you're sure," he said quietly. He kept walking… completely aware of her eyes staring into his back intensely.

            Kagome hurried to catch up with him.

            "Um… Miroku-sama?" she asked tentatively. 

            He was surprised that she was even attempting conversation. Usually their travel was either silent or marked by kitsune whines and hanyou curses. "Yes, Kagome-sama?" he asked, intrigued. She bit her lip.

            "Ah… um…" It seemed she was trying to choose her words carefully. "If… if you ever want to talk…" She struggled to keep going. Miroku raised his eyebrows, amazed. Why the sudden interest? "-I'llalwayslistenifyouwanttotalk," she finished breathlessly. And immediately went bright red with embarrassment.

            "What was that?" he asked, not quite sure that he had heard her correctly.

            Kagome mumbled something, her head down. But she squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. The girl looked him in the eyes. "I'll always listen… if you need to talk about something." Simply saying such a thing seemed to be taking every ounce of willpower she possessed.

            He grew somewhat suspicious. Whatever her motives were, they were good. But why had she suddenly decided that he needed to talk to someone? "Not to say I'm not flattered…" he started uneasily. "But it seems quite sudden. What brought this on, Kagome-sama?"

            She gulped. "It's just… no one ever talks. Ever. Everyone just sort of broods if they have problems and – and sometimes they don't even do that. Sometimes they just hide it and pretend like everything's fine. I just sort of realized it."

            He was surprised to hear her echoing his own thoughts from the day before. But she seemed so genuinely _concerned_ about it. Miroku smiled. Kagome was so naive in her own way… but it was what made her the anchor point in their motley group.

            "You're too kind, Kagome-sama. I'm fine." He thought of the shard against his chest involuntarily. The monk pulled it out, noticing as he did that it seemed slightly off color. Miroku put it down to the lighting. "I believe you forgot this with me before," he explained. 

            Kagome's face turned inscrutable.

            _I could take it… I shouldn't be listening to those things… Her conscience had been prodding at her unceasingly lately… but… _But then, who would know about it? Who would even care about him if I didn't?__

            "…no. Go ahead and keep it," she said, feeling slightly guilty. The shards in her own necklace throbbed once as Miroku held it out – but soon went dead. The priest tucked it back into his robes, looking at her questioningly, but not saying a word.

            He'd been doing that a lot lately. Not asking, that was. And was she ever grateful for it.


	3. Nightmare

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

Excuse Explanation for why there are no authors' notes/responses:

It takes a LONG time. I will, occasionally, do responses for this one. But otherwise, we will be having one big block of text that answers general questions. Because I believe the time would be well spent lengthening my chapters. ^^

So… :Sleep in me…: was commented on quite a bit. I was actually _wincing_ at what twisted idea it would give San. Thankfully, no one was (seriously) hurt. And as for the relationship: it IS Miroku/Kagome. For once, yes. Clearly spelled out. No twists. Well…

Maybe a few. 

But not that bad.

The relationship is going to progress much more quickly than you people are thinking. _Much _more quickly. She's in his mind. That tends to get you intimately acquainted with someone regardless of how long you've known them or how little you know of them.

Lemon? Don't know. Maybe for San's Christmas present (in which case, it will certainly _not_ be on this site – I value my account way too much to just blatantly say 'screw your regulations, FF.net').

I love you all. Truly. Reviews make my day. Long reviews make me ecstatic. I assure you – I read every. Single. One. Sometimes more than once. I will therefore, out of the goodness of my heart, tell you that this chapter is intense and dark and rather…um… ouchy. Even more so if you are listening to _Full of Grace_, _Good Enough, and __Take Your Breath Away on infinite loop (which, hey, guess what __I just happened to be listening to as I wrote this?) We can all blame Bik for this, as she is the one that recommended that I go back and find my Sarah McLaughlan albums and dust them off. _

Ah. Angst. I sometimes think it's a living, breathing thing.

**Chapter 2 – Nightmare**

_"And oh darkness, I feel like letting go…" _

**-Full of Grace (Sarah McLaughlan)   
  
**

            Miroku tried not to notice the way that Kagome stole a glance at him every time she thought he wasn't looking. He tried to ignore her sudden proximity to him and her nervous body language (as she rubbed at her neck and bit her nails quite frequently). But it was a very uncomfortable journey for him nevertheless.

            He was surprised that no one else had seen it. Inuyasha was usually the first to notice if Kagome showed interest in someone (even if _he knew that she wasn't interested – it was obviously something more serious). And Sango usually saw immediately if Miroku got within ten feet of a woman. Shippo… seemed to notice _everything_._

            So why had no one else seen her strange behavior?

            Could he really be imagining it? Or maybe the signs were just so subtle that only someone actively looking for them would find them.

            He didn't claim to understand human behavior. That was not his area of expertise.

            He _certainly didn't claim to understand women._

            Miroku was, therefore, very much on edge when they finally stopped for the night. Although this certainly did not stop him from pulling off his usual black cloud routine flawlessly.

            Dinner was not exactly somber. Everyone was in the mood to eat, which made it cheerful; but no one was in the mood to talk, which made it somewhat stifling. Miroku had the feeling again – he was going to dream badly this night.

            The monk murmured a quiet thanks for the food when he was finished and stood, walking to his room.

            And her eyes were following him again. He wasn't sure why. Miroku decided to chance looking back – he caught Kagome's eyes in surprise.

            They were… concerned?

            For just a moment, he was unable to move, caught by her gaze. He had the most horrible feeling for that split second that she _knew_.

            But it passed. And he walked to his room and closed the door behind him.

            All he had to do was stay awake.

            The monk knew it was a lost cause even before he sat down to meditate. He hadn't had enough sleep the night before; his body was going to insist on getting rest. A shiver went through his spine even as he knew he was falling asleep…

**

            Kagome watched as Miroku left to his room, her breath no longer steady. The jewel shards against her chest were pulsing slowly with the weight of evil… she suspected that if Miroku bothered to look at his own shard that it would once again be a pure black.

            He turned briefly, to stare her full in the eyes. Kagome caught her breath.

            Miroku was _tired. His smile might have been just as carefree as the day before, when he had sat with her at the well… but his eyes were worn down, quelled to barely a flicker of what they had been._

            He left then, disappearing down the corridor.

            Kagome put down her chopsticks, aware that the remaining people were looking at her. Her food was barely half finished.

            "I'm… I'm feeling tired," she said. "I think I'll go to bed early."

            Sango frowned. "Do you think you might be sick, Kagome-chan? If so, you need to eat it all."

            The girl waved her hand weakly. "Oh no, I'm full. I couldn't eat another bite."

            Inuyasha snorted. "I'm taking it if you leave. No coming back."

            She shot him a glare, but it didn't have much to it. "Fine. Go ahead." To her surprise, Inuyasha didn't move.

            Had that been a ploy to get her to eat?

            "I'll take it!" chirped Shippo, picking up the bowl with the innocence of a child. "So you're sure you don't want it? Last time?"

            Inuyasha seemed irritated that Shippo had interrupted his trick. "Who said I wasn't going to eat it?" the hanyou demanded. The fox shrugged.

            "You're still eating yours, though. And _I'm_ still hungry!"

            Sango shot Kagome a sympathetic glance. "Go to bed, Kagome. I'll sort this out."

            Kagome smiled gratefully and rose from the table. The quibbling of Inuyasha and Shippo followed her all the way to her own room.

            The girl opened the door silently and padded into the room, closing it behind her. She sighed and sat down on the futon provided. She held the Shikon shards in her hand, contemplating them. Their light had begun to wink quickly as the shards were alternately corrupted and purified.

            Kagome bit her lip. She had a choice to make. She could stay awake and leave Miroku's thoughts and dreams to himself. She was quite sure he would prefer that, if he'd known. But… if she went to sleep and perhaps shared the dreams…

            He couldn't possibly take it all on alone. Even if she only gained a limited understanding of the Kazaana… wasn't it worth it?

            There were no easy answers. She would just have to do what she felt was right.

            There really was only one choice, then. 

            Kagome lay down on her side and closed her eyes, painfully aware that she was about to intrude upon private thoughts once again…

*

_She was in the void again. A weariness settled abruptly on her unlike anything she had ever felt before. No escape, even in dreams…_

Come out, Naraku. Get it over with so I can get some sleep.

_A pause._

_"You actually mean it, priest. I'm surprised – I was of the notion that you would last a little longer."_

You already know it all, don't you? Why do you even bother to provoke me anymore?

_"It's merely routine at this point. Still, I cannot deny that you offer me conversation every once and a while. Come now, Houshi. Tell me what has happened in your life. Perhaps I may spare you tonight if you interest me."_

I'm not stupid enough to give you information about my friends just to get some rest. I may have given up on myself, but I won't betray them.

_The weight increasing… tightening her right hand to steady herself…_

_"Ah. Then I suppose we stand on tradition yet again tonight."_

_Her hand was becoming tight… painful… white hot pains shooting up her arm…_

_"Have you ever wondered, monk, what your death would be like?"_

Stop!

_"I think I'll keep going. You see that pain that shoots up your arm… it will grow…"_

_Expanding, growing, splintering… the pain was becoming excruciating… Kagome let out a cry, her eyes tearing with the effort of keeping the Kazaana closed…_

_"And soon it becomes unbearable…you begin to wonder if it might not be better to simply let go and die…"_

Never! 

_Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain…_

I'm not going to let myself die for your twisted pleasure!

_It hurts… let it go away… what if he's right…_

_"You think of all the things you'll miss; you don't want to leave your friends behind – you wanted to live to find a  happiness denied you for so long…"_

Stop! Stop saying these things…

_How can he know, it hurts, I don't want to die-_

_"And then you remember that you were alone your whole life because you forced it on yourself – that you wanted someone to care about you more than anything else…"_

You bastard! I'll kill you… I'll – I'll kill you…

_The hand trembles in agony… it would be so easy to just open it and never have to listen to him again…_

_But I want to live, I want to be happy, I want my LIFE!_

_"You won't kill me. You will die before you kill me. Maybe you'll even take some of your friends with you and do my work for me. You'll never live – no one will ever care, they won't notice you're gone-"_

Shut up! What about you? You don't have anyone that will give a damn when you leave – no, we'll all be happy that you're gone. No one will mourn your death!

_"The difference between you and I, Houshi, is that I don't care. But you – you would  open that hand and let it all end rather than listen to me utter one more word about your death."_

_He's right… I can't… I can't…why can't I rest… it doesn't matter what happens after I'm gone, does it? If he wins… I won't know it…_

_The hand opening slowly…_

**Get out! Leave me alone!**

*

            Kagome gasped, coming awake all at once, choking on tears. She didn't want to die – she _didn't want to die!_

            It wasn't fair. Why had her life been so shortened? What had she done wrong? _What could she have done to deserve something like this?_

            A tangible pain had grown in her chest, a constriction in her heart that hurt more than any physical wound ever could. She curled up, arms around her chest, trying vainly to stop the pain. Her form shuddered with every breath, and sobs wracked her frame. It wouldn't go away – it got worse by the moment.

            _Why can't someone see it? Why doesn't anyone care that I'm going to **die**? Doesn't anyone… does anyone even think of me…_

*

            The voice had startled him awake, driving away Naraku's insidious voice. The fact that he had been about to give in did not register immediately.

            That had not been his voice.

            A pain blossomed in his chest, but it was a dull ache compared to the vivid torment he had dreamt.

            _Whose voice was that, if it wasn't mine?_

            A face came to mind almost immediately. Pitying eyes, concerned eyes, eyes that watched him constantly…

            _Kagome!_

            Miroku sat up immediately, pushing the blankets off of himself and struggling to his feet in the darkness, vaguely aware of the cold night air on his bare chest. Her room was… this way, yes…

            The monk pushed open the door from his room and half stumbled out of it. He rushed down the hall, some rational part of him outside of the haze of concern and sorrow counting doors.

            One…

            _How is it possible…_

            Two…

            _Why would she do it…_

            Three…

            _Why would she suffer the pain if there was no reason…_

            Four…

            _But it means… she knows…she knows it all…_

            He reached her door, pushing it open in a panic.

            Kagome was crying.

            Miroku wasted no time in gathering her into his arms. She sobbed against him, her hands fisted against his chest. 

            The Shikon shards around her neck were glowing brilliantly, a pure white color. Miroku looked down at his shard, which beat rhythmically in his hand. It was a deep violet, a mocking half-black that was even now receding with every pulse.

            Miroku put a trembling hand around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

            "Why?" he asked in a shaking voice. "Why didn't you take it back when I asked you to?"

            Kagome couldn't respond. She just cried harder, shaking her head against him.

            Miroku swallowed, his gloved hand running through her hair. "You shouldn't have kept it. No one else should have to know what it feels like to die." He exhaled deeply. "Kagome…"

            "I don't want to die," she whispered brokenly. "I don't want to die…"

            He felt something within him respond overwhelmingly. Miroku quelled it and stroked her hair comfortingly.

            "You're not going to. You're going to live a long, long time."

            She swallowed a few times, blinking furiously. Her eyelashes moved against his bare skin, wet with salty water. 

"But I d-don't want you to d-die either."

            Miroku felt his heart stop.

            _I was wrong…_

            He took a shuddering breath. Then - "I can't promise that."

            Her arms timidly slipped around him, holding tightly as though he would disappear. "You have to. You have to or I – I don't know. I don't know what I'll do." She looked up at him for the first time, eyes bright with tears. "Don't leave, Miroku-sama."

            _It suddenly hurts so much more… now that someone does care if I die…why did I ever want this…_

            "How am I supposed to stop it, Kagome?" He had dropped the suffix from her name half-angrily, half-tiredly. "I can't. You know I can't do anything about it – you probably know it better than I do."

            _Useless… can't do anything… just have to wait to die…_

            She shivered again, burying her head in his chest. "Don't, then. Just… don't."

            He laughed hopelessly and trembled at the same time, knowing he wouldn't be able to win an argument with her. Miroku pried one of her arms off of him and clasped his hands around hers tightly – he pushed his own shard into it forcefully.

            "I don't want you to ever let me take one of these again. Forget it, Kagome – it'll make things easier."

            She wanted to yell at him, to scream at him that he didn't understand anything at all. She wanted to tell him that she wouldn't be able to forget ever. She couldn't let him just suffer alone…

            But Kagome couldn't get the words out past her sobs. 

            Miroku stayed with her a long time. She didn't know the exact moment that she fell asleep, but when she woke, he was gone.

            His Shikon shard was left in her bottle, glinting innocently along with the others. She collected it with shaking hands and wiped at the raw, stinging tear tracks down her face.

            It still hurt. She was going to die.

            Of course, these weren't her feelings. They were his. But it was wrong just to say that he was going to die. Because she _knew_ it in a way no one else ever could. It was there, like a lead weight in her chest, pulling her down and drawing her thin and hurting – it would _always hurt…_

            She didn't understand how he could have been smiling at her so easily when she had left him to die.

            _I can't forget…how can he ask me to forget?_


	4. Realization

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

Well now. It's nice to see that angst is good. Cause you people _do_ know that it's practically my writing style at this point, yes?

…I should change the category. I've gone on an angsting spree again. Someone stop me before it gets out of hand.

*reads chapter*

Ooh, look. It has _happy_ in it. I didn't know you could do that! ^^* By the way, fast-paced. Very much so. But…but… circumstances! And mind, and telepathy and weird stuff, right? I'm excused, yes?

Okay, fine. It was just an excuse to write the unbearable Waff! out of my system.

**Chapter 3 – Realization**

_"It is easier to exclude harmful passions than to rule them, and to deny them admittance than to control them after they have been admitted." _

**-****Seneca**

Shippo looked up before Kagome had even entered the room, a dazed expression on her face. The fox grinned, bounding into her arms and nuzzling into her chest.

"Kagome!" he exclaimed. "You're up!"

Kagome blinked… and patted him absently, as though preoccupied with something. Shippo frowned.

"Ka_gome…" he whined. "Aren't you going to sit down and eat with us?"_

She looked at the table, snapping out of her trance. Inuyasha was eating a quick breakfast – Sango fed Kirara a bit of miso from a bowl, the fire cat's purrs echoing around the room.

"Where... where's Miroku-" She paused, shaking her head for a moment. "-sama. Where's Miroku-sama?"

Shippo blinked. "He left a few minutes ago. He took breakfast with him; said he was going to eat outside."

The girl bit her lip. That didn't sound quite right… "I think I'll go look for him," she told the fox. "Could you put together some food for me, Shippo-chan?"

Inuyasha, from his place at the table, shot her a suspicious look. "The monk can take care of himself. Why don't you eat in here?"

Kagome shrugged, a detached feeling eating at her mind, emotions roiling just beneath the taut surface. She had to see him. There was something hidden inside of her… it was strangely disappointed at not seeing him this morning. It insisted that there had to be a confrontation before she could be satisfied. "I'd rather eat outside too, I think," she responded. "How's the weather today?"

Sango walked to a window, sliding it open a crack. She tilted her head to see through it better. "A little cold, some dark clouds… should be fine for a short meal."

Inuyasha looked about to say something else, but Shippo had handed Kagome a small basket of food – the girl left before he could get it out, shutting the door behind her. The hanyou's mouth snapped shut, a scowl growing on his face. "Feh," he muttered, crossing his arms. "What's so great about eating outside? We do it almost every day."

Sango shrugged. "Some people just have a preference."

This didn't seem to make him any happier. "Well who cares about her anyway?" he said loudly, even though his expression had gotten no better. "We can eat in here just fine."

The taijiya rolled her eyes. "In other words, you don't want to get 'sat' by following and provoking her."

Inuyasha's glare was redirected at her.

Sango ignored him and sipped at her soup absently. Kirara mewed contentedly beside her.

He crossed his arms, irritated at his lack of effect on her. "Feh," he muttered again.

"You do that," the demon hunter murmured vaguely, taking another bite.

**

            It took her a long time to find him – Miroku had not wanted to be found and had chosen a place accordingly. It was only by asking various villagers that she managed to locate him. She was directed to the forest that lay to the east of the village, overlooking it. 

            A premonition of fear went through her.

            What if he had…

            Kagome shook the thought from her mind and clutched the Shikon shards in her hand tighter. Grass crunched beneath her feet as she went up the steep hill as fast as she dared. An ominous rumble went through the sky, nearly making her stumble. The dark clouds overhead had decided to make good on their threat. 

A drop of water hit her face wetly and slipped down her cheek. Others followed close behind, a sprinkle of rain beginning to fall. Kagome sucked in her breath, picking up her speed recklessly.

            The going became somewhat slippery as water coated it – she had to catch herself many times on her way up. The girl grabbed at the grass desperately, only partially successful at keeping herself from sliding down. Kagome clutched her hold tighter, scrambling upward. She could catch him, she was sure. She _had to catch him…_

            Kagome cleared the slope with a gasp, having to spend precious seconds catching her breath. How far had he gotten? Was he really going to leave them? Was it her fault?

            She'd intruded on his thoughts – she'd discovered something irrevocable.

            The girl ran into the trees, looking about desperately through the haze of sprinkling rain. It obscured her vision, reducing it merely to vague shapes and shadows. Kagome shook the droplets from her hair, looking about for anything that could possibly be mistaken for him.

            But she was running blind. There was no way… how could she hope to find him…

            The idea of giving up flitted across her mind.

            Kagome suppressed it violently – and kept going.

            It seemed an eternity (a few seconds? An hour?) that she ran, pushing aside branches, moving in a dazed panic. But she _saw him!_ Kagome could have fallen to the ground in relief; but she kept going, running toward him. The basket fell to the ground, forgotten completely, as she came close enough to touch him.

            Kagome felt her detachment ebbing away slowly. The raw emotion was coming back slowly, the desire for something unattainable. The girl stopped where she was.

            "Miroku," she whispered. 

            He stiffened at her voice. Time stopped as she found herself unable to move for the barest of instants.

            _"…__you wanted someone to care about you more than anything else…"_

            The rain began to fall more quickly, hitting the ground in spatters of water. The dark sky was split by a sudden light – and thunder cracked somewhere in the distance.

            How could he have kept himself apart so brutally… how could he have driven them all away with that terrible longing, the constant ache in his soul… and that awful smile…

            Miroku had begun to walk again – he was leaving, his rain-soaked robes making him move slowly and tiredly, his hair clinging wetly to his face.

            "Don't!" she cried. "I- just let me talk to you!"

            The monk shook his head, unable to look at her. "I told you to forget about it, Kagome-sama," he said quietly. "And so it is not open for discussion."

            She felt her heart constrict in her chest. "No," she told him. "I can't. You can't just tell me to stop."

            He kept walking. Perhaps he was afraid that he really would stay if he stopped.

            Kagome took a hesitant step after him, afraid that he might become angry if she went farther. But that one step turned into two; two became three; and before she could decide otherwise, she had caught up with him, catching his arm desperately. Her arms wrapped around it, her head against his back. The rain had plastered her uniform to her, making her feel cold and clumsy.

            "You could have told me…" she said in a choked voice. "I would have listened."

            The muscles in his back tensed slightly. "And what would that have accomplished?" he asked softly. "Nothing but pain, just as now. All it would do is weigh you down with things you can do nothing about."

            A resentment stirred within her, covering the sting his truth had created. Kagome swallowed, but the sudden knot of anger refused to go down her throat. "So what if I can't do anything?" she asked furiously, her hands catching his shoulders and turning him to face her. An icy splash of water spattered her legs. Kagome nearly slipped, but she clung to him tightly. He had to understand! "You don't deserve to have to deal with it alone! Why won't you let me _care_ about you?"  
 

            His face bore a look of surprise unlike anything she had ever seen. Miroku stared at her in genuine confusion for just a moment. "Kagome… you don't know what you're saying. I'm going to die."

            The irritation fled her, but the choking feeling was still there. The helplessness and the pain it had masked came to the forefront now, unhidden and unclouded.

            Her arms had somehow slipped around him again, holding tightly onto him. "You… you idiot," she choked. "You don't know anything, do you?" She looked up at him with brimming eyes. "You're acting like you're already dead. But you still have a life! Even if it doesn't last as long… does that mean you have to be alone for all of it?"

            One unsteady hand had raised to his face. He didn't dare to breathe as it came to rest against his cheek, warm and caring. Kagome's hand gave off an undeniable heat against him, even wet as it was.

            "I don't know how it happened," she whispered in a frightened voice. "But it's worse than just caring about you now…" Miroku touched the hand on his cheek in a stunned awe. He became aware that his heart had begun to beat faster with every word she said... his willpower was ebbing away… "If you died," she continued weakly, "I… I don't think I could take it." Her hand moved across his cheek slowly, slipping around his neck and coming to rest there. "And now I can't stop hoping for _me_ to do something to stop hurting… to make it all better…" 

Miroku froze, unable to move, as she rose to tiptoes, her head tilting… his arm tightened around her unconsciously, supporting her as she pulled herself upward, her hand now tangling in his wet hair.

Kagome pushed her lips against his gently, her arms around his neck. It started as a tender contact, uncertain, even disbelieving. But to his utter astonishment, he was responding, pulling her closer and deepening it to the point of desperation. A hunger for what she had offered had grown in him, silent and unnoticeable, until the critical moment. Her body melded to his, close and urgent and _burning… and so__ right._

            He should have pulled back. He should have stopped her. But he had wanted – _needed it for so long. Why couldn't he live? Why _shouldn't_ he?_

            _"You amuse me, priest. Taking the hanyou's woman… how virtuous of you."_

The voice was dull, though, barely a whisper against Kagome's blazing power. Miroku growled, pushing Naraku out of his mind with an angry shove. 

_You aren't ruining this for me. You can't take this away._ He ran his tongue over her lips and Kagome opened her mouth with a gasp – Miroku slipped it inside, brushing against her own tongue. She stiffened against him, but relaxed again almost as quickly, letting him do as he pleased. Her fingers buried themselves deeper into his hair. 

The world was perfect – for just that moment, he could have died without regret. 

No. That wasn't right.

He was _living._

Kagome pulled away, flushed, her lips slightly parted as she breathed in. She was still held taut against him, the wet fabric of their clothes the only thing between them.

Miroku stared at her with nothing short of pure shock. It had been only two days ago… two days ago, she had been a somewhat friend, distant and unknowing…

How had she managed to change it – change _him_ – in such a short amount of time?

"Miroku-"

A sudden movement. A twitch of the trees.

And she was gone.

"I wonder sometimes at your abilities of perception, Houshi."

The voice had left his dreams.

  
  


**

**…**

**Oh.**

**You mean you expected something comforting here?**


	5. Risk

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

**Chapter 4 - Risk**

_"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." _

**-T.S. Eliot**

            Miroku whirled around, instinctively grasping for his shakujo – then remembering that it lay against a tree over twenty feet away. His wet hair draped into his eyes almost to the point of blindness; the monk pushed it back roughly, trying to analyze the situation quickly.

            Naraku (no – another puppet, of course) stood barely five feet from him, his own hair soaked by the rain. Kagome, eyes wide in terror, stood stock still. The hanyou had pinned her arms to her sides with two black tentacles that looked so very out of place on a man.

            "What are you doing?" growled Miroku, his mind still slightly foggy (Kagome had kissed him? _Kagome?_).

            Naraku chuckled deeply. "I should think it is obvious, priest. I'm taking her – and I'm killing you."

            Kagome's eyes closed tightly at this point, her fists balling at her sides. She kicked and struggled, and Miroku almost thought he could see her trying to bite the tentacle that covered her mouth. But her efforts were to no avail – no mere girl could defeat Naraku's puppet.

            Miroku's eyes flickered to the staff that lay against the tree. Naraku seemed to notice, but did nothing. The puppet looked… amused.

            "Go on, Houshi. As it is you that allowed me this chance, after all (Miroku stiffened in anger) I am willing to allow you an honorable death."

            The priest cracked his knuckles in anticipation. Naraku intended to allow him nothing of the sort. The hanyou wanted to kill him slowly and painfully so that he could enjoy it thoroughly. Miroku pushed the confused thoughts from his mind and readied himself.

            Naraku smiled.

            And Miroku dove – not for the shakujo, as the hanyou had been expecting – but for Naraku himself.

            The priest pulled a soaked piece of paper from his robes, the ink already starting to run from it. A power grew in the place just behind his eyelids, tingling and waiting. It traveled like lightning to his hand, and the ofuda stiffened, throwing off the water that threatened to destroy it. The characters written in flowing script upon it glowed a blinding white – and with a flash, departed the paper to adhere themselves to the surprised half demon, burning and twisting. Hisses came where the rainwater hit raw patches of burning skin.

            But the moment of surprise had ended. Naraku's puppet flew backward with its prize, throwing off the characters of ink and consuming in flames the paper in the monk's hand. Miroku's knees hit the ground.

            Naraku regarded him stonily – the injured skin upon the puppet was not healing as it ought to.

            "That did take all of your energy, did it not, Houshi?"

            Miroku took a shuddering breath, his arms shaking with the effort of holding himself up from the ground.

            "Yes… I suppose it did. Although you shouldn't have been able to do so much in the first place." A smirk. "I commend you. Now die."

            There was a rushing wind. A crack. And then, everything went white, and Miroku found himself staring into a void – no, a _filled void – and… and nothing…_

**

            Kagome screamed, the sound muffled beneath the bark-like appendage that covered her mouth. 

            The tentacle had gone through his chest. Miroku's body spasmed once – then went limp. Naraku laughed.

            "Not as I would have chosen to have it done, but it works all the same."

            Kagome trembled as the tentacle removed itself – and the blood began. Terrible amounts of it spreading in a pool beneath him, his face chalk white.

            No. That was… impossible.

            Miroku was a formidable opponent. He wasn't supposed to die in battle… it would be his hand, if anything, and there was a way to _solve_ that and fix everything to be good again…

            Kagome realized that she wasn't breathing. And that the water running down her face tasted vaguely of salt.

            And something broke.

            _Power spiraled out from somewhere deep within. A blinding, overwhelming power that tore through her, leaving her raw and used and hurting, but kept coming and kept leaving as though yearning for the outside. For _Naraku_._

            There was a startled sound from the thing that held her. The cords around her mouth and arms disintegrated under the onslaught, but the power refused to be stopped here. It was free. It was _hungry_.

            The entity within her continued on its path of destruction, coils of it lashing out wildly, lacerating the puppet and searing it where it touched. Naraku screamed in agony – and she knew with a savage glee that it was _Naraku_ screaming on the other end and not merely his plaything. Kagome's power soared along the link between the puppet and the demon, seeking him with that insatiable hunger for his pain.

            The link fell away abruptly. Naraku had cut it himself.

            The entity screeched in anger, casting about for him. It wasn't stopping, Kagome realized with panic. It _wouldn't stop!_

            The channels within her tore and reshaped, the power cutting through her as though it were a living fire. And… perhaps it was, in a sense.

            Kagome threw her arms around herself, clutching at something unseen, willing it to close. Her will threw itself uselessly against the raging torrent that spilled from her body, battering itself to nothing. 

            She was losing her own battle.

            The girl fell to the ground, the power still rushing from her mercilessly, ruling her. Something began to clutch at her wildly erratic heart, squeezing it and burning it and pulling at it all at once. She renewed her efforts to close the door to it, in a frightened frenzy. But the power refused to be shuttered. It was free. It meant to stay that way.

            And she felt…her heartbeat…stop…

            A hand closed over hers gently, warm and comforting in the darkness.

            It guided her to an end.

            And she found in surprise that the torrent had abated. The river was reduced to a trickle, a sluggish flow. And then, it stopped altogether. 

            Sensations began to return. First, her touch – the mud beneath her and the rain that pitter-pattered on her body. Then her smell – the acrid stench of blood that hung ominously in the air, covered by the smell of bitter death and, ironically, the fresh scent of rain.

            "Kagome! Kagome!"

            It had started softly. Something barely discernable. 

            "Kagome!"

            Insistent. Annoying. Louder.

            "KAGOME!"

            It roared desperately into her ears. She flew upward, her arms flailing to cover her ears.

            And hit against something hard and tense and definitely human. Or half human, as it were.

            Inuyasha crushed her against him, and his smell overwhelmed all others. Kagome relaxed against him, wincing at the torn tracts within her that still stung unbearably.

            "Inuyasha…" she murmured softly, burying her head in his haori. Inuyasha was good. Inuyasha was safe. Inuyasha always made everything better.

            "Houshi-sama!" came a gasp beyond him.

            And a crushing pain hit her.

            Kagome pulled herself forcefully from the hanyou's arms, stumbling in the mud, her eyes finally opening again. The situation finally hit her completely.

            Miroku lay on his chest, his robes caked with blood and slowly drying mud. He had stopped bleeding entirely – his face was a pure white.

            She wrenched herself to him with a sob, barely noticing Sango's own cries of grief.

            Because Miroku wasn't dead. He _couldn't be dead._

            She tore at his robes, her mind focused on one thing and one thing only – he had to live. She had to make him live. There was no other alternative.

            Kagome wrapped the strips of cloth around his chest, noticing vaguely that the tentacle had missed his heart – but only barely. Naraku had wanted him to be alive as the others found him so that they could make an effort to save him – and that he could feel every moment of pain until the end.

            Her lips flattened to a line. He _would_ live.

            The makeshift bandage was tight, covering the wound completely. Kagome put her ear to his chest dully.

            It still thudded weakly with the sound of his heart. But he wasn't breathing.

            "Move," she told Sango quietly. The woman had thrown herself, sobbing, onto the priest's unmoving body. Sango did not respond.

            Kagome turned back to Inuyasha, who was staring at her in openmouthed shock. "Move her," she commanded him. When he didn't seem to hear her, she repeated herself. "Move her now, Inuyasha."

            The hanyou swallowed, looking at her calmly detached face. He seemed to come to a decision, though, and he pulled Sango gently from Miroku's body as though she were no heavier than a kitten. The woman latched onto him as Kagome had, shaking her head in denial. Inuyasha patted her awkwardly on the back, uncomfortable with having to take care of someone other than his normal charge.

            Kagome moved to the priest's face, and covered his mouth with her own, pushing her life into him. His chest rose softly with her breath, and she blew again, then pushed back down upon it and let the air escape. Inuyasha watched with a kind of horrified fascination.

            The girl listened at Miroku's chest again. There was still no sign of breath. She swallowed, pushing back the sudden desperation, and breathed into him twice more, then listened again.

            He coughed weakly, his chest moving against her ear. The blood that had choked his throat was expelled, and she closed her eyes in relief as he began to breathe once more. Kagome rose unsteadily to her feet, fully intending to pick him up and carry him back herself.

            Inuyasha's hand caught one of his arms and pulled him upward, and the hanyou gently dislodged the distraught taijiya from his chest. Sango fell to the ground, her hands covering her mouth, her tearful eyes staring at the ground, but seeing something completely different.

            Normally, Kagome would have stopped to comfort her friend – Sango was undoubtedly seeing again the deaths of everyone dear to her. But there was no time.

            "Shippo!" Inuyasha called loudly. The fox demon tumbled out of a tree with a squeak of surprise at being found out. "Take care of Sango and make sure she gets back!"

            Shippo stared at the blood on Kagome's hands for a moment, gulping. But he nodded all the same.

            Inuyasha picked up the two people with a bit of effort, having to hold Kagome at an awkward angle in order to not aggravate the monk's injury. He flicked his eyes to her in apology at having to hold so tightly to her arm, but she nodded frantically for him to move. The hanyou crouched – and took off.

**

            "_Am I…dead?"_

_            "I don't…remember…"_

_            He floated between two planes, unsure of which way to go. Darkness spread below him and a pulling had taken grip of his heart like a siren's call, seductive and alluring…_

_            **Go to sleep, our monk… you have lived long enough in pain… come to the edge…**_

_            He felt his eyes drawn toward the darkness at his feet, and he licked his lips. It would be so easy…_

_But he snapped his eyes back upward forcefully; he resisted without knowing why. Perhaps it was the thought that he was not in control of himself that forbade him from taking that path._

_The ground softened beneath him. He felt himself slipping…_

_"No. You won't take me from it."_

_From it?__ From what?_

**_"It's okay to let go… you can die in peace…"___**

_"No. I can't."_

**_"It would take your pain away…"_**

****

_"There's more to life than pain."_

_At least…he thought…_

_His foot slipped into nothingness, drawing the rest of his body in after it. The void drew at him strongly, steadily growing harder and harder to resist even as more of him gave in. He felt it close over his neck with a shiver, caressing him gently and numbing his fear and unhappiness…_

_His lips were covered…and his nose… and now his eyes were angled up, up, up until all he could see was a single point of light – which was swallowed by the dark as the ground took those too. He grasped for purchase, for something – anything! – with which to pull himself back up…_

_And he found it._

_Another hand grasped his tightly, pulling with effort. It seemed to be having trouble, though. He pulled back, knowing he would have to help, and managed to bring his eyes back out._

_She stood there, tears on her face as she tried and tried and tried…_

"Don't die…please, Miroku, please…"

_The voice came from her… and yet it didn't. It surrounded him and was part of him and came from outside of him…_

_He smiled and pulled himself farther from the calling darkness._

_"Ok."_

**

            Kagome had to work quickly to help him – she closed out the insidious voices that plagued her with doubts, pushing them from her calm void. She could do this.

            At some point, she knew Kaede was helping her, bringing in herbs and salves and changing the bandage that had somehow become bloody again (though it hadn't been but slightly red before). Kagome saw the color begin to return as they heated him back up and stopped his blood loss. 

            Sometime during the process, the sun rose. And she found herself working harder, even as she, herself, grew weaker with fatigue. They gave him food and liquids and replenished his body. And then… he rested.

            Kaede's gnarled hand patted her shoulder tiredly as Kagome realized that there was nothing left for her to do.

            "Go to bed, child," the old woman yawned. "Ye cannot save him by wearing yourself to nothing."

            Kagome ignored her.

            She sighed and left the cottage quietly. "I'll be in the adjacent house should something happen," Kaede said quietly.

            Inexplicably, Kagome found herself alone with him. And all of the things she had fought so hard to control and to keep away came flooding in to weaken her resolve now that she did not need it. The girl collapsed against the wall, her eyes closing and her mouth twisting into a grimace of uncertainty and unhappiness.

            _He can't die… can he?_

            She'd finally gotten to know him – to know the real him – and it just wasn't possible that he could die before she used that knowledge. Kagome had discovered something in her anxiety; that Miroku could not die before she made him happy again. For surely he had been at some time.

            Her hand brushed along the floor, seeking his for reassurance, to make sure he was still there. Kagome found it and grasped his fingers tightly.

            "Don't die…" her voice cracked. "Please, Miroku, please… you can't die now…"

            At first, she thought she had imagined it. There was no way, obviously, that he could hear her.

            But Kagome looked down at his hand… which had tightened around hers.

            She sighed in relief and sank to the floor beside him, sleep overtaking her before she could batter it away again.

**

            Inuyasha muttered beneath his breath as Kaede turned him away again, somewhat sharply this time.

            "If ye want him to live," the old woman said frostily, "then get ye away and let us _work!_"

            She went inside again at that and the hanyou found himself completely and utterly helpless for what had to be the millionth time in his life. And he didn't like it.

            A few yards away, Sango had put her head on her knees, her arms curled around them tightly. She stank of tears. Shippo patted her shoulder hopefully, telling her that everything would work out in the end; but the taijiya seemed to be taking little comfort in such a small assurance.

            The hanyou muttered something cross beneath his breath about weak-willed humans, but found himself strangely drawn to comfort her again. She reminded him of someone important now. It took a moment for him to realize it was himself; and by that time, he had sit down next to her. His hand squeezed her shoulder, but his face was expressionless as he wondered what in hell he was doing.

            Sango trembled slightly, but she shook her head violently. "Don't," she told him. "I'm being stupid. He'll pull through, I know it."

            Inuyasha scowled. Well. If she didn't want reassurance, he wasn't going to try and give her any. God forbid he try to be nice for a change.

            But Sango grabbed his hand as he moved to rise, her fingers tight around it. The taijiya's hand suddenly seemed so very small within his own. The hanyou understood. He hadn't really been paying attention to her… but Sango was a woman before a taijiya. And a human being before a woman. Every human could feel things other than straight determination and anger… 

            Now she seemed confused, and somewhat lost. But she was trying desperately to hold onto that façade of strength.

            Sort of like him.

            Inuyasha sighed and sat back down, pulling his hand from hers and putting it on her back. Sango shivered as though letting go of something – and leaned into him. Her arms flew around him and held tightly, as though the hanyou were a lifeline. Inuyasha swallowed and glanced at the hut.

            Lights. Voices.

            No signs of stopping.

            "They're doing what they can," he murmured. "At least… that's all they can do, right?" He winced at the repetition, knowing it wasn't exactly reassuring.

            But Sango gave a choked laugh against him as though she believed it.

            Shippo tugged at his arm insistently. The boy looked forlorn. "He is going to make it. Kagome's good at that kind of stuff."

            Sango gave another half laugh, half sob and, uncharacteristically, pulled him into an embrace with one arm. The fox sniffled. "Yeah…" he muttered sullenly. "I don't really think so either."


	6. Consequences

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

Let's see. Announcements: the site has been updated many times (the Japanese Guide had a giant overhaul). I have quizzes up on Quizilla (Which Female Inuyasha Character Are You and Which Male). Sandra is a god (see her update) and exams are _over (this means more time for me to write). Also, though I do not usually respond to reviews…_

_is__ this going to be sango/inu? please by the gods say no. please say no or i dont know what ill do._

Yes.

Please try not to criticize something irrelevant. I could see picking out certain sentences and saying "That doesn't flow well" or "I don't think he'd say that". But the pairing is what the pairing is. If I've been going in a I/S direction so far, I'm not going to switch it out of the blue.

That is all.

_Muse: You lost miserably at Warcraft again, didn't you?_

…shut up and get me a cookie.

**Chapter 5 – Consequences**

_"Things do not change; we change."_

                                    **-Henry David Thoreau**

            He winced at the sudden pain. 

            It had come to him just as he'd woken, a sharp hurt in his chest that hurt more with every pulse of his heart. He forced his muscles to relax and the pain lessened slightly.

            Miroku let his perceptions wander, as he couldn't quite remember why he had come to be injured. He came to realize dimly that someone was laying across him. Someone… female. And someone scantily clad, his right hand concluded, as it went in for the kill.

            He also realized just a moment later that she was sleeping.

            And _she was __Kagome._

            Eep.

            The hand drew back instantly as though burned. Miroku chastised it heavily. Because _obviously_ he couldn't wake Kagome up. Because… because…

            Because.

            Instead, he decided to _gently_ move his arm to a comfortable position around the small of her back and try to remember exactly why she was there.

            And…

            He flinched.

            _"I sometimes wonder at your abilities of perception…"_

            _I'll kill him if he hurts her – no, I'll just kill him before he does-_

            Ah! But she was currently on top of him. And therein lay the conundrum.

            _What happened?_

            The priest knew that Kagome was safe for now (and in very good… hands). But he didn't know whether they were going to stay safe. Miroku forced his eyes open, letting them adjust for a moment before heaving a painful sigh of relief. They were in Kaede's hut (unless there was another that looked exactly like it) and he was rather neatly bandaged up. But Kagome had no wounds, and _that was what mattered._

            But (and he frowned at this) why had they been out there in the first place? Miroku felt his half-lucid mind trying to fit things together like a puzzle. But his mind was not very good at puzzles, apparently, because it kept trying to force the edge pieces into the middle.

            Kagome let out a tired sound, announcing that she was awakening. Miroku swallowed, knowing there was no time to remove his arm without making things worse.

            Her eyes opened sleepily – then opened as far as they could go, widening in surprise.

            _You know, hand, I don't think Buddha looks very well on treachery…_

            But surprisingly, his hand had not moved lower. Instead, Kagome was suddenly hugging him tightly her head buried in the crook of his arm. Even in her shock, she had keenly avoided his wound. It still hurt from being jostled around a bit, but Miroku had decided to blatantly ignore that fact.

            "You're…you're…"

            "Alive?" he coughed. "Yes." He wanted to add that he was also _hurting, but it was just too good a position to comment on._

            Kagome's arms tightened around him for a second, but loosened again when he flinched in pain. She reluctantly disentangled herself from him, staring down with wet eyes. "I th-thought you were g-going to die!" she told him through hiccups. 

Miroku grinned. "Of course not. I refuse to die before-"

"Don't finish that thought," Kagome warned with a half smile, wiping tears from her eyes roughly. "You forgot that I know you too well."

Oh.

_Oh._

He began to remember.

_Wet in the rain, Kagome flush against him, her lips on his…_

Kagome had clenched her hands in her lap, her eyes looking downward in apprehension.

"I felt you then," she said quietly. "When I couldn't control the power…" Miroku blinked, having been on the verge of inquiring uneasily about her reasons. "You showed me how to stop it, didn't you?"

The priest's brow knit. He couldn't really remember much of anything. She'd used some kind of power?

Her lips tightened angrily. "I hope Naraku felt that from miles away. I hope he _died._ No! I hope he's still alive so I can kill him _personally-"_

Kagome clamped a hand over her mouth in horror. Miroku was staring at her.

_That… sounds like something I would say._

She let out a whimper of disbelief, her eyes wide. He had the suspicion that Kagome was not a very hateful person, normally. Despite the shivers in his arm, Miroku put his hand to hers and pulled it down from her mouth, ignoring the pleasant tingling that resulted from their contact.

"It's normal to hate him that much," the monk said tiredly. "You know anyone else in our group would come up with much worse."

_Fighting each other… wish… I wouldn't think that way… not **me…**_

He realized with a jolt that the thought wasn't his. It had a kind of flavor to it that didn't seem quite right in his own mind. Kagome let out a gasp and pushed away from him – he had rested their connected hands on her chest. Where the bottle of Shikon shards glittered innocently.

_"And now I can't stop hoping for me to do something to stop hurting… to make it all better…"_

Miroku frowned as she put her back against the wall, watching him with apprehension. Kagome had curled her own arms around her legs, her hands tight with tension.

"Kagome," he stated simply. "You don't have to care."

This startled her. She looked up and accidentally met his determined violet eyes. "You love Inuyasha," he said. "You hate Naraku, but you don't hate him as I do. You love Shippo as a little boy that you like to protect and give snacks to, and you care about Sango as a friend." She took in a sharp breath at the demon hunter's name. Miroku inwardly sighed – obviously, she'd gotten a rather jumbled view of whatever she'd gotten from his mind. "And… and you're just friends with me. That doesn't have to change."

Kagome looked away, silent. Apparently, he had said something that struck true.

"Miroku!"

The voice came from the doorway, surprised and delighted. The monk soon found himself the target of a small ball of fur and tail.

"Shippo," he laughed. "Where have you been?"

The fox wrinkled his nose. "Outside. Kaede said we couldn't come in or we'd disturb Kagome's work." Miroku remembered the way Kagome had been laying on him and thought suspiciously that Kaede's reasons had not been _completely medical…_

He looked to the wall at that thought, perhaps to see her reaction to Shippo's sudden appearance.

Kagome was gone.

"Oi! Bouzou! You're not dead yet?" Inuyasha pushed his way through the curtain of reeds, his relieved face belying the rather harsh words. But Sango pushed past him, her tear-streaked face now firm. The taijiya knelt beside him, grim.

"If… If you _ever worry m- us like that again… I'll… I'll…"_

Miroku felt his lips twitch in amusement. "Make sure I enjoy my last moments with a woman?" he asked.

The demon hunter huffed. "Make sure you never enjoy a woman again." 

He winced visibly, playing along and ignoring the fact that it would be irrelevant anyway. "Good incentive not to die, then. I'll keep it in mind." 

Shippo blinked, apparently trying to puzzle things out a bit, but Inuyasha simply shook his head and muttered, 'when you're older'.

He spent a good deal of time getting caught up on the details of his almost-death. Miroku found it surprisingly easy to not worry about it so much – he wasn't exactly sure why death by Naraku wouldn't be as frightening as death by black hole.

_Kagome…_

He glanced past the other three people with a frown. How had she taken all of this? To his mind, she'd reacted almost calmly, compared to her recent (ahem) concerns about his upcoming death. Of course, it could just be his ego talking – people reacted strangely in intense situations… such as much-too-realistic dreams about dying…

So she'd gotten shaken. He could accept that. And it was probably partially his own mind that had made her so… _affectionate_. He could accept that as well.

But (and this was irritating) he could not accept the fact that she had left without answering him. About caring. At first, he had thought he was hoping for her to say yes. To understand that it wasn't her actual feelings and that she would be better off with someone who wasn't on a deathclock anyway.

However. His treacherous mind refused to allow him to be piously accepting of the fact that she could stop caring. Miroku found with some alarm that he had suddenly become incredibly selfish.

_"…you wanted someone to care about you more than anything else…"_

Yes. That was it. But…

_"I can't. You can't just tell me to stop."_

That. That was it _too._

"Are you okay, Houshi-sama? You look like you're falling asleep."

Miroku blinked, coming out of his half-sleeping daze. "Oh. I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

Sango gave him a half annoyed, half concerned look, and reiterated herself. "We're not sure what happened to Naraku's puppet. The only person who might know is Kagome, and we never got a chance to ask her before Kaede and she cloistered themselves in her with you."

"Why don't you ask her now, then?" he asked vaguely. Inuyasha snuck back in then, trying to be unobtrusive and failing. Miroku noticed then that Shippo had left. 

Sango looked uneasily to the hanyou – but he shook his head slightly. She turned back to him. "Um… not right now," the taijiya said uncomfortably. "It's not a good time."

The monk's eyes narrowed. "Why is it not a good time?" he asked suspiciously. Inuyasha glared at him.

"It's just not. Keep your nose out of things that aren't your business."

"Inuyasha!" Sango said indignantly. "Would you at least _try_ to be polite, for once?"

The inu youkai scowled. "Why? He may be wounded, but he's still the same lecherous idiot."

Miroku raised an eyebrow. This was taking a different turn than he'd been expecting. "You mean… she's bathing?" he asked. The hanyou let out a curse.

"Yes," Sango said calmly. "And no, I'm not going to help you peep while you're injured."

The joke died on his tongue. "Ah Sango, you know me too well," he lamented. The monk turned to regard Inuyasha. "You _did_ leave Shippo and Kirara with her?"

Inuyasha glared at him. "I'm not stupid."

He hoped that meant yes.

**

            Kagome slid into the hot spring with a sigh of weariness. A warm tingling filled her, from her shoulders to her toes, but her mind was troubled.

            Miroku had been injured because of her and her nosiness. Perhaps it hadn't seemed like nosiness at the time, but that was no excuse. They were _his thoughts and they were _private_._

            He probably resented her. She didn't blame him.

            Looking back, Kagome wondered why she'd done what she had. Not letting him keep the shard – she knew her somewhat dubious reasons for that. Following him had been the only option after that…

            But she'd told him everything; and she'd kissed him. 

            That was most certainly not Kagome-like. But then, neither was hating Naraku so much that she wanted to kill him slowly and painfully and make him feel every bit-

            Kagome steered her mind forcefully away from that train of thought. She sighed and ducked lower into the water as a night breeze made goose bumps rise on her arms. He'd wanted her to forget. She couldn't. But… he'd also said that she didn't have to care.

            Could she do that?

            Did she want to?

            The girl closed her eyes tiredly and let her head lean against the rock behind her. Miroku was alive. The thought cut through everything else and warmed her more than the hot spring. She'd wanted him to live more than anything else, and he was alive, for the moment. 

            She thought about that and decided that nothing else mattered. Because she _knew she wanted him to stay alive, it was easy to just pursue that end. Anything else could be resolved __later._

            And even though she knew she was procrastinating, Kagome ignored the rest and focused on the fact that Naraku had to die.

            "Hey Kagome!"

            Shippo leapt into the hot spring happily, splashing water all around and sending droplets of it to wet Kagome's hair. The fox demon swam up to her with a happy sound. "You didn't tell me you were going in the hot spring!" he said with a laugh.

            Kagome broke away from her dark thoughts and smiled at him. "I didn't really think about it. I'm sorry, Shippo."

            Shippo grinned and pointed at Kirara, who was in her tiny cat form. She stood at the edge of the hot springs, dipping a single paw into the water cautiously – then drawing it out in distaste. "She's really weird about the water. I think she needs a bath, though, so Sango sent her with me."

            The fire cat looked up at that and sent him a severe look, as though to say 'I am perfectly clean without a bath, thank you very much.' Kagome stifled a laugh – she couldn't imagine Buyo giving her that look. 

            "I'm going to pull her in," Shippo whispered with a mischievous face. Kagome blinked and then put on a somber face. Buyo left nasty scratches along her arms whenever she tried to give him a bath… not only was Shippo less than half her size, but Kirara could also become many times _bigger_ than Buyo…

            "Maybe you shouldn't-" she started warily, but Shippo was already sneaking toward the shore. Kagome sighed and rubbed at her forehead.

            There was a feline screech and a splash. Then, there was a low growl as the cat turned _much bigger._

            "Ack! Help, Kagome! She's gonna kill me!" Kirara's growls of frustration grew as Shippo dodged through the water much more aptly than the cat could manage. Kagome snickered – Shippo was in no real danger from Kirara. The most the cat would do to him would be to sit on him for a while.

            The girl rose from the water and sloshed through it to her towel, which hung from a close branch nearby. She wrapped it snugly around herself before rising from the water.

            She was already halfway dressed when a spine-chilling feeling went through her.

            Shikon shards.

            Two.

            "Oh wonderful," she groaned. "Perfect timing to confuse me more…"

            Kirara, Shippo dangling from her mouth by his tail, looked at her questioningly. Kagome shook her head with a sigh, and finished getting dressed.


	7. Endgame

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

**Chapter 6 – Endgame**

_"There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness."_

                                    **-Friedrich Nietzsche**

            _The world moved by silently, unswerving, unyielding… it rushed at some times and at others, it died completely to  blackness…_

_            He watched, unable to affect it. His hand stirred only to one will – his thoughts were not his own._

_            It was then he realized that he was an observer. He leaned in closer, as though to better see and understand._

_            The first thing he saw was pain._

_            Excruciating, burning, crackling pain with every breath. It hurt to move, it hurt to breathe, it hurt to **live**… footsteps… they stop there, in front of him, while the aching light in his chest writhes smugly, tearing life from him…_

_            "You think… to kill me… while I am weak?"_

_            Cold eyes. A fan unfurling._

_            "Yes."_

_            And… a sly smile through the pain… his hand squeezing only slightly on something that seemed to pulse and writhe…_

_            Screaming. Cursing. Something cutting into skin…_

_            "You wish for freedom? I can give you freedom at any moment. Freedom from slavery, freedom from pain, freedom from life… ask me, Kagura."_

_            A whimper._

_            "Ask."_

_            And… she spits at him. "No."_

_            He smirks. "Then do as I say and kill the girl. Otherwise, this thing she left inside of me will kill me – and you will die as well."_

_            "…I hate you."_

_            "Yes."_

_            Because when he finds her, he will kill her slowly, taste her agony and hate her and love her while she dies…_

You won't.

            _No?_

            No. I won't let you.

            _I'll have to kill you first, then._

            Now we understand each other.

*          

            He knew she was there before he woke. Had known it, in fact, even as he dreamt of a dying Naraku.

            Her small hand had closed on his, maybe unconsciously, rubbing absently at the beads that closed his wind tunnel. His first instinct was to pull it away – Kagome shouldn't have been that close to the Kazaana. But her hand felt right there… she knew, above anyone else, the danger of that right hand.

            Miroku didn't move as she threaded her fingers between his. He didn't open his eyes when she leant down to brush the hair from his forehead.

            "…goodbye, Miroku," she whispered.

            And… she was gone.

            He may have believed himself dreaming if he hadn't just woken from one.

            The monk sat up with effort, recognizing as he did that he had healed somewhat. But not enough.

            "Inuyasha," he said, knowing the hanyou would hear him if he were anywhere nearby. "Where is she going?"

            There was no response.

            But on the other side of the hut, a silver haired boy picked himself up from his leaning position against the wall – and walked away.

**

            The demon hunter noticed the girl's approach even before her silhouette came into view. Kagome stopped a few feet from where the taijiya was leaning against her tree.

            "My bow?" she asked quietly. 

Sango stared at her. "What do you want it for?" she asked, her hand on the smooth wood of the haft.

            Kagome smiled. "Nothing we don't all want. Can I have it?"

            A pause.

            "Kagome… he won't die today."

            "No. He won't."

            "So why now?"

            Kagome took a deep breath. "You're not going to give it to me, are you?"

            Her friend shrugged – and tossed the bow to her. "I'm coming with you, is all." The woman stood and picked up her hiraikotsu, hefting it onto her shoulder. "But neither of them will be very happy."

            The reincarnated priestess before her seemed to have grown into her position. She shook her head authoritatively. "You're not coming. And I don't care."

            Sango chuckled. "You haven't got a choice. Kirara is the only way you'll make it without Inuyasha catching up to you."

            Kagome's eyes flickered to a place behind her, though, and Sango turned abruptly. At first, she thought there was nothing but the shadow of a moon – but a swirling cloud of dust came into vision. And just as quickly as it appeared, it was before her, stopping in front of Kagome.

            "Where's the dog?" Kouga asked Kagome. 

            She furrowed her brow. "He's gone right now. But I needed to talk to you, Kouga-"

            "We've found him," the wolf interrupted uncharacteristically. "He's got no right to be gone when we've found him."

            "Good," Kagome said, and her voice held a strange tonality to it that neither had ever heard in it before. "It saves me the trouble of looking for him. I doubt he wanted me to go to him, but it will be a good change to do the surprising."

            Kouga's eyes widened, and he put his hands on her shoulders. "You're not going, Kagome," he said in an almost panicked voice. "You have to stay here-"

            She shook her head again. "I am. I have to. And Inuyasha isn't coming."

            "You've got something planned?" Sango asked sharply. 

The girl shrugged. "Not as such, no. But I have enough of an idea. I need a clear shot – and I can't get that with Inuyasha trying to keep me out of the way."

The demon hunter's eyes narrowed. "It's more than that, isn't it? What do you have in mind? Why can't we be there?"

But Kagome turned from her, back to the wolf demon. "Please, Kouga, I need you to take me."

He seemed torn. "I'm not going to risk you, Kagome," he told her with a frown. 

Her face turned pleading. "I can kill him, I know it! I just need your help!"

            She could tell he was wavering. Kouga wanted him dead almost as much as she did.

            Sango put a hand on her shoulder roughly. "What are you going to do?" the woman demanded, a note of panic in her voice. "Kagome!"

            But Kouga had picked her up, and Kagome shook off her friend's hand.

            "I'm sorry, Sango," she said quietly – and the taijiya recoiled in surprise as the wolf took off, dust left in his wake.

            Kirara brushed against her leg with a concerned mew, and the woman took a choked breath. The cloud of dust disappeared into the distance, the taijiya watching with disbelieving eyes.

            "No," she said. And she looked down at the cat at her feet. "Come on, Kirara. We're following them-"

            Sango let out a squeak as a blur of red moved beneath her, pulling her onto its back. "No. _We're_ following them," Inuyasha said. A muttered "hold on tight" was her only warning before they, too, were running into the distance.

*

            Kagome looked over Kouga's shoulder, trying to read his expression. It was harder than she'd thought – it had no trace of emotion, only a look of concentration.

            The girl opened her mouth to say something, but he beat her to it. "I can't kill him alone," he said above the wind's roar. "I don't even know if I can distract him. But I'll try."

            Her heart constricted, and a strange ache bloomed in her chest as she realized that she could have loved him.

            "You… you can use these," she said, and she let go of his neck with one arm to grasp at the bottle of Shikon shards around her neck. After a moment of picking at the edge of the stopper with one hand, it came out – and went flying away behind her. Kagome dumped the shards into her hand, picking out the smallest one for herself and holding out the rest to the wolf as she wrapped her arm around his neck again.

            One arm let go of her leg momentarily, to take them – and Kouga put on a burst of speed as the two Shikon shards in his legs grew to six.

            Kagome let out a small gasp, and clutched tighter, not entirely expecting such a thing. But Kouga's grip on her legs tightened reassuringly.

            "So maybe we'll beat him," the wolf told her with a laugh, though they both knew it to be unlikely. Even so, he was grinning.

            "Yeah…" she said with a brilliant smile. "We will."

            Kouga never noticed the tears that streamed behind him in the rushing wind.

*

            _…and it can all be over…_

            The unfamiliar thought flitted through his mind as he struggled to his feet.

            Miroku looked down sharply – he hadn't been mistaken. 

            A Shikon shard glowed dully in his hand.

            His expression hardened, even as Kirara ran through the door to rub against him. The firecat mewed emphatically, jerking her head toward the door.

            "We can go," he told her. "And you'll take me?"

            There was another mew from the cat and he smiled. "I hope Kaede will take care of Shippo," he muttered to himself as he made his way to the door, leaning heavily against the wall. 

            "Kaede's not taking care of anyone," Shippo's voice said sourly from just in front of him, where Kirara had stopped. "Where is everyone going?"

            "Nowhere," the monk said, forcing an amused voice. "We're going to have a picnic."

            Shippo snorted. "I'm young, not stupid. And Kirara can hold two people." There was a burst of flame and the newly transformed firecat growled, unhappy at being referred to as a mode of transportation. "Sorry," the fox said quickly. "I meant you can take two people."

            The monk shook his head. "Look, this doesn't even have anything to do with you-"

            "Why? If everyone else is going to go into danger, I'm not getting left behind." Despite her earlier protests, Kirara now growled her assent, ducking her head so that Shippo could hop on.

            Miroku sighed. "I'm getting outvoted here. I guess there's no choice."

            _…no choice…_

            And he looked up, his dark eyes narrowed. "We need to leave."

*

            The single strand of hair wound easily around the wood, pulled taut almost to the point of breaking. His hand shook from the biting pain, but he was not yet so weak that he couldn't create a simple puppet.

            The pawns in his game were approaching, as planned. The endgame had been forced to an earlier time – but that was of little concern. Their weakest and most important piece had foolishly come to attack.

            His hand paused in its motions and his lips curled into a smirk as the puppet was finished. Naraku leaned against the wall to let his strength return, even as the light inside of him lashed out angrily.

            The board had been set in his favor from the beginning.

            "Attack the woman and the hanyou," he instructed the boy in front of him, tossing the puppet to him.

            A pause.

            "Yes, Naraku-sama."


	8. Waking Dream

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

So… extra long chapter. Man. It's turned interesting, I'll give it that. Must have been the chocolate cake.

For everyone who's interested, Once Upon a Snowstorm is a new M/K by Quickening. I'm sure with just a bit more coercion, we can win her over completely (muahahaha). So read! And squee over the cute… lime-sprite, as it were. ^^

**Chapter 7 – Waking Dream**

_"It is easy to go down into Hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; but to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air - there's the rub, the task."_

                                                **-Virgil**

            Stars flickered above dimly, their weak light filtering through the trees to cast shadows on the world. Kagome felt herself drifting through them as though floating, felt them dancing like black flames.

            And in her surreal mind, they were dying, over and over.

            _I wonder if we would know when a star went out…_

            Kouga's strong back supported her easily as she leaned against it, and she silently apologized to him for what she was going to do.

            _Because they'll all know when it happens… this time…_

            "We're close," came his lowered voice. "We'll have to slow down soon or he'll notice."

            She murmured an agreement softly, her mind on other matters.

            _Because if you do this, I can't be there to catch you…_

            It was something strange in her mind; like a half of herself previously undiscovered. It was him – and it wasn't. Miroku knew little of her plans, she was sure, if he'd even woken yet. At such a distance, he would only have guesses and suspicions to go on… but the one in her mind was pleading.

            _Don't, Kagome. I can't save you this time._

            "I know," she whispered.

            _I'll be okay,_ her own voice said ironically in her ear. _I'm always okay, aren't I?_

            Kouga's arms on her legs tightened, but he said nothing. They had slowed without her knowledge – and now they had stopped.

            "His castle," Kouga murmured as they looked out from the trees. The fortress would have seemed so innocuous normally – it stood peacefully in the middle of the tiny valley, as quiet as the night that surrounded it… but youki and miasma pervaded its very foundations. "He managed to keep it hidden until now – it popped up for no reason, though. You know it's a trap…"

            Kagome smiled.

            And hugged him.

            "Of course."

            The wolf prince's eyes widened in realization, and his arms flew around her desperately, clutching her like a lifeline. "Kagome, what are you doing?"

            "I don't know," she said sleepily, the dazed smile still playing on her lips. "Not entirely."

            _I have to be okay… they always expect me to be okay…_

            And she drew him closer, burying her head in his chest. "I'm sorry I couldn't be what you wanted…" she told him softly, trying to keep the awful weariness from her voice.

            Kouga let his head fall to hers with a choked sound. "You were never less than that. You're still not. _Don't go._"

            He knew she had never intended for him to go with her. She had never told him anything to suggest her intentions, but he had known, somehow. And he had gone anyway – perhaps from an arrogant feeling that he could stop her.

            And for just a moment, she was tempted. _To have him hold her and comfort her and protect her and tell her everything will work out…_

_            I would have done that for you, Kagome-sama. Always._

            It wasn't him, no. It was the remnants of him inside her, holding her tightly and reassuring her… and hoping she would reconsider.

            She sighed. She didn't have the time to indulge herself in such a wonderful dream.

            "You have to take the Shikon shards and run," she told Kouga resolutely. "Inuyasha may have been able to protect them… but he'll come running to avenge me if I fail." 

Kouga snorted derisively, but it was a half-hearted attempt at normalcy. "That idiot can't take care of anything… not even the most precious thing he has…" The back of his hand moved up to brush against her cheek gently, and Kagome shook her head.

"I'm not his," she said, but the statement seemed merely tired instead of indignant – and her cheek had leaned into his hand slightly. "You'd better not try to do anything he would if I don't come back… you're the one taking care of the last hope."

And she was suddenly gone, slipped from his arms… walking almost carelessly toward the place where she might die.

It was personal. And… she was tired, and worn, and something in her had been stretched too thin. It was something that only he could understand, she knew.

She'd reached the main gate, now – predictably, it was open. She had hoped to surprise Naraku by arriving quickly – but the hanyou was a dangerous person, and not one to underestimate in any sense of the word.

Her feet traveled the dead land inside the gate, through a barren garden, and she felt the evil around her cringe back as though in pain. The miasma couldn't bear her touch.

Empty… it was so empty…

The place had undoubtedly once been filled with life and cheer. Servants rushing back and forth; women giggling coyly by a pond; and the prince himself, untouched by death or corruption or Naraku…

She realized that the image had slowly become reality. The stark contrast was gone; flowers and koi ponds and graceful bridges overlay that which had been dead. The courtiers smiled at her as she passed, a few laughing good-naturedly at her strange clothes. The hazy state she'd been in had intensified ever so slowly…

…and she was suddenly smiling back at them, snapping from the daydream that had gripped her before; the strange waking nightmare that had held her and troubled her with death and misery.

"Kagome," a voice whispered in her ear. "Come to me."

The prince beckoned… and she came.

**

            The thought occurred to him that he didn't have to do this. He didn't have to hurt them. He didn't have to do what Naraku told him. The hanyou might even be dead in the next hour or so…

            The fleeting idea passed easily. Naraku was his master. Naraku was what he lived for. If he didn't do what the man said… what would he have left?

            He gripped the puppet in his hand tighter.

            They were close. He could hear the dog man coming.

            _Aneue__…_

            He frowned. _Why does that word come back to haunt me so much…_

            And they were there, in front of him – and he had to act.

            His hand tightened on the kusarigama momentarily – then threw it as hard as was possible. The figure running past seemed to notice at the last moment, moving aside hurriedly to dodge. He felt it hit something, though, and tear skin. There was a cry of surprise… and as the chain sickle returned to his hand, it shone darkly with a crimson stain of blood.

            "Sango!" someone hissed. "Get off and stay down!"

            Kohaku immediately let loose the puppet in his hand, pushing back the sudden tightening in his chest at that sound of ripping skin. The blood… it reminded him…

            Of… what?

            He hadn't the time to think as a clawed hand barely missed him. It really shouldn't have – he had been so distracted, it should have caught him easily. But now he would be ready.

            "I'll end it quick…" the dog murmured in a troubled voice, taking another swipe and ducking at the boy struck back with a newly drawn katana. "He's too far gone at this point…"

            Kohaku saw his eyes looking on him with pity, though. And while he desperately wanted to know how he deserved such a thing, the idea was washed away again with the need to forget.

            _Just… just a while longer… please…_

            Another barely missed claw, and a kick aimed for his stomach – Kohaku turned it away easily. The half demon was using brute force as a substitute for training… he could easily divert such tactics; in fact, he could easily turn the demon's strength _against_ him.

            The next lash brought the arm in close proximity to him; the boy grabbed it with his clawed glove, a gift from his master for his good work.

            **_It has the claws of a great demon cat… it will easily shred the hide he wears…_**

            A loud curse was heard from the dog demon attacking him, and he glimpsed a glittering trail of blood on the arm as the man fell away to a pained crouch not five feet away.

            "What the hell do you think you're doing, anyway?" he snarled, apparently upset. "Your family's murderer is having you do his dirty work!"

            _Screams…blood…can't stop…_

            His eyes narrowed. This man… this man was an interruption…

            **_That's right… forget_****_…_**

            The kusarigama raised again, ready to attack the half memory.

            "Naraku killed your father!" the man yelled. "Does that mean anything to you, or are you too far gone?"

            Blank eyes. The blade descending…

            "No," her voice whispered in pain.

            The blade stopped in midair, frozen. His eyes widened at the too-familiar voice. 

            _Not now… please not now… I don't want to remember, Sango, I don't WANT TO!_

            "It… it wasn't Naraku…"

            Inuyasha turned to the woman, bleeding on the ground. She had pulled herself up, though he could barely see her in the dark of night.

            "Stay back, Sango!" Inuyasha warned. "You can't count on him being who you remember!" _I made that mistake… she won't make it now…_

            "Kohaku!" she said desperately, and he saw then that she was strong, but weak. "Remember, please! Please don't… don't…" So strong… but so inexplicably weak around him… concerning him…

            **_Forget it, Kohaku. Forget her. She doesn't matter._**

            "No," he whispered. "No… I couldn't have…"

            "Please? For me?" Her bright eyes pleaded with him, the only part of her he could see in the night. He felt her now. She was that missing half; the thing he had misplaced and never found again… had she always been there, right in front of him?

            **_You wanted to forget. Let them go, the memories… they are no longer a part of you…_**

            "Sango," the hanyou said breathlessly. "Keep talking. It's _working_!"

            **_You BELONG TO ME! You gave your word!_**

            _No… no, you killed them, you… you murderer…_

            "Kohaku…" she breathed.

            "…Aneue…" _But…___

            The blade clattered to the ground. The boy followed it, falling to his knees with a jolt.

            He said nothing.

            **_I? I was not the one that killed so many…_**

            His trembling hands rose to his face, gleaming in the moonlight. 

            _Blood._

            "Kohaku!" She moved as though to help him, stumbling in pain – but something was suddenly in her way.

            A man had stepped between her and her ailing brother, and at first she thought it might have been Inuyasha… but the closer she looked, she found that the sheet of silver-white hair was part of an animal skin. The man wrapped in it had dark hair, and was paler than the well-toned inu hanyou. In the near starless night, he stood out easily.

            "Good evening, Sango," Naraku said with an ironic smile, eyeing the crimson stain that had spread along her side. "Things have changed since last I saw you."

            Sango's face hardened, and she once again became the strong woman she had been. She drew her katana instantly, ignoring the blazing pain it left in her side.

            "I wouldn't," he advised lightly. But he wasn't talking to her so much as the silver-haired figure that had appeared beside him, transformed Tetsusaiga already sweeping toward the puppet's chest with an enraged yell.

            It halted instantly as one of Naraku's tentacles held up its prize.

            "You wouldn't want dear Sango's brother to die, would you?" he asked with a tone of sincere concern, brow knit in worry… but his intentions were quite clear.

            "You _bastard_," the boy found himself spitting. "_You fucking bastard_…" His hands convulsed on the blade, aching to finish the stroke with a fury that bordered on madness. "When are you going to be done playing with people's lives?" he bit out, never noticing that his hands had turned completely white from the grip he was keeping on his sword.

            Naraku seemed satisfied.

            "Very soon."

**

            It was probably the hardest thing he would ever have to do, leaving. To run away while she fought alone…

            Kouga's fist clenched angrily. He wasn't afraid. He would never be afraid.

            …except for her.

            It was hard to run when he wanted to stay. Which was why he hadn't been able to leave yet.

            When the first howling blade of air hit the ground where he had been, he knew his decision had been the right one.

            "Faster now, I see," drawled a familiar feminine voice. Kagura stepped from the shadows of the castle casually, but her expression was not nearly as smug as her tone. In fact, her face was looking very pale and strained.

            "I'm fast enough to kill you, certainly," he snarled. "Why don't you come closer and see?"

            The wind-user seemed to realize that her face had betrayed her; she rearranged it back into her usual proud scowl. "I'm not stupid, prince. Close quarters are no place for me… and I have to kill you quickly, to help Naraku subdue the priestess."

            He readied himself immediately for the barrage that was sure to follow this statement, his legs tense and strong.

            But she made no move to follow up on her stated motive.

            "Well?" he demanded.

            But her fan, closed after the first and only blade, did not reopen.

            "So ready to die?" she asked softly, moving forward slightly. "You're going to deny me the only good conversation I'll ever have again?"

            Kouga's lip curled. "I don't owe you anything, murderer."

            She smiled again, but it had again been drained of any true derision. "No, of course not. But you can."

            And she was still moving forward. Unafraid, despite the fact that she had just acknowledged her own weakness in close combat. Her steps moved delicately for such a barbaric woman and her still-closed fan tapped against her hand gently, sending a pleasant breeze toward him.

            "What are you _talking_ about?" Kouga asked, eyes narrowed. This was not Kagura's normal behavior, from what he'd come to know of her.

            "A bargain, my dear wolf," she whispered, though he could still hear her easily. "Delay me here and your priestess lives; I ask only that you leave me alive."

            His hands clenched. "I don't trust you. Why would you make such a flawed deal, witch?"

            Her fan opened abruptly, and he leapt back immediately, face contorted into a rage.

            But she was merely fanning herself.

            Kagura raised an eyebrow. "Why so afraid, Kouga?" she said, much too familiarly for his taste. "Surely," she scoffed, "You cannot believe me powerful enough to kill you?"

            He grinned. "Then I have no deal to make. I can kill you – and you won't be going after Kagome while you're dead."

            "No," she said seriously. "I probably couldn't. But I could fly to Naraku now, where you can't follow. I know you are a man of your word, though; all of you idiots are. Tell me you'll leave me alive."

            "You have _nothing to gain!_" He ground out angrily. "Why in hell would you offer such a thing and why should I spare you after all the crimes you've committed?"

            She pulled a feather from her hair, again putting him on his guard.

            But the woman watched it intently for a moment with the softest face he had ever seen on her… and let it go. It floated away on the breeze, fluttering and twirling and dwindling away into a speck in the darkness.

            "I want my freedom," she whispered.

            His first thought was to refuse her outright. She didn't deserve such a thing when she had denied so many others their very _lives!_ He had the power, Kagome had given it to him freely-

            Kagome.

            Staring up at him with a sad smile, kind eyes flickering between weariness and a last, grim determination.

            _"I'm sorry I couldn't be what you wanted…"_

            He closed his eyes. And swallowed as he realized that he had already decided.

            "You have your deal," he spat, without opening his eyes. "Throw away your feathers, Kagura."

            He knew the moment she had done it, though he couldn't see her. A single, soft feather drifted past his cheek, brushing it gently before disappearing from his sphere of senses.

            Kouga opened his eyes and stared into her burning red orbs with a calm hatred. "But you will wish you had died."

            Her lips curled upward into her smug grin, and Kagura laughed. "Really? We'll see about that."

            The fan between her fingers pulled back, ready to react. And the fight began in earnest.

**

            "Kagome," the lord said with a smile, nodding his head to acknowledge her. "You have a visitor; a charming man, certainly, this priest… and a fine match, as well, for all that he isn't nobility. If you should need my consent…?"

            She blushed prettily, realizing his insinuations; but at the same time, her heart leapt into her throat and forced her to ignore all else. "Priest?" she asked with a hopeful expression.

            He stepped aside lightly, looking back at the man that had tapped him on the shoulder. Kagome felt her face break out into an excited smile; she rushed him, then, nearly bowling him over with a hug.

            "Kagome-sama!" he exclaimed, pulling his shakujo out of her way as she slammed into him happily. "It's been too long!"

            She nodded, burying her head into his robes. "I haven't seen you in years, Miroku-sama!" she said delightedly. "It's so _good_ to see you again!" The priest smiled warmly at her, his arms moving to hug her back as though she were a child.

            "Business calls, you know," he said with a wink. "But I must admit, it was hard leaving behind such a beautiful girl – and such an affectionate one, as well."

            Kagome giggled. "I was ten, Miroku-sama," she said in amusement. "I guess I still _feel_ that way, but you don't have to pretend I'm still going to fall for your jokes."

            The man behind them cleared his throat pointedly, and she realized that they were probably in a less-than-proper pose at the moment; for all that it was fine for a ten year old, it was a much different story for a girl of sixteen years.

            She pulled away, face bright red in embarrassment, but the lord simply smiled at her again and took his leave politely.

            Kagome turned back to see her priest smiling affectionately at her. "I really did miss you," he said. "And… you certainly aren't ten anymore."

            Her face turned confused – until the moment when his shakujo dropped to the ground completely, and he moved to embrace her again; this time much tighter and more desperate. She felt one of his hands travel to a place just behind her neck, where he had found she was sensitive in earlier years. Then, of course, it had been because she complained of a crick in the neck; now… 

            She found herself staring up into his eyes breathlessly, afraid that she would wake up at any moment.

            His lips descended on hers, and she found herself becoming giddy. Perhaps they _were_ in a private area… and certainly the gardens had been used for more… explicit things… before…

            "Six years," he murmured against her. "Six years is too long, Kagome-sama. Every year, I wanted to come back. To ask you…"

            Her arms slid behind him to pull him closer. "Why didn't you?" she asked, her heart so full it ached. "I would've said yes."

            A hand stroked her hair gently and the monk's fingers ran through her loose hair, sending pleasant tingles along her scalp. "Mushin said to give it time… he said I had to train… and I was afraid if I came back, I would stay forever."

            She lay her head against his chest, letting his hands lock behind her shoulders and rub out the tension that had accumulated there. "I'm so glad you came back," she told him. "And…" Kagome hesitated, steeling herself. "I never told you… I was going to, just before you left, but you looked so awful already…" His arms tightened, as though frightened she were going to tell him she were engaged or some such nonsense.

            "Yes?" he whispered expectantly.

            "I…" She swallowed. "I lo-"

            _Wait._

            His eyes looked down at her tensely, anxiety dancing in them. With just three words, she could quiet it forever; and they could live happily ever after like she'd been waiting for six years.

            "I love-"

            _No, Kagome. It's **not** **me**._

            And things became strange again; the world twisted, hues distorting and graying. Flowers and ponds disappeared, the sounds of hushed laughter and chirping birds was lost. For just an instant, day became night, and her wonderful priest's violet eyes turned a deep, laughing black.

            The beautiful world snapped back into place in a flash, and she and Miroku were sitting against the tree, hands clasped tightly. 

            "Kagome," he said softly. "I have something I wanted to ask you. Before we…" Yes. Marry. It was a hard word to say, but she was sure they were both ready and dedicated to the concept.

            "Yes?" she asked with a smile.

            Miroku looked suddenly uneasy. He sighed. "You know that I journeyed a long time while I was away from you," he said quietly. "And… things happened."

            Her brow knit. "Like?"

            The priest sighed. "I was cursed. I have… little time to live."

            She gasped. "How – how could you keep this from me? How could you-" Tears threatened on the edges of her eyes; through them, she could see a dull black night, a colorless world of nothing…

            "Shh," he said comfortingly. "It can be cured. I just… I need you to help me."

            Kagome nodded with a sniff. "Of course I will. Anything you need, I will."

            Had her tears lingered just a little longer, she may have seen the truth of her dream – that he was smiling coldly, and not in relief.

            But there was no room for tears here.

            "Now concentrate, Kagome…" he whispered, and her eyelids drooped at his deep voice. "Concentrate on taking it back…"

            She felt him guiding her head to his shoulder slowly, and she _did_ feel a sudden sleep coming on.

            The girl yawned, settling herself against him and closing her eyes. "Yes…"

            "Do you see it?"

            A glowing, pulsing heart of power, pure and white and tugging at his heart gleefully. It was… her…

            "Never mind that, Kagome," his voice whispered. "Can you take it back?"

            Her hand reached for it, outstretched. _Come back,_ she told it. _I need you back…_

            Kagome's fingers touched it – and it seared them angrily, hissing at her. Hate, horrible and unadulterated, seared back through her, and she cried out.

            His arms were around her, though, and they soothed away her pain softly. "It's okay, Kagome," he told her. "Everything will be fine…"

            She smiled softly again, leaning into him. There was another time and place where she didn't have that… a place where she was alone…

            She reached again, brushing her fingers gently down the core of light… it drew back, at first, uncertain.

            _Come back…_

            Hesitantly, it touched her hand.

            And disappeared.

            "Thank you, Kagome," said another voice pleasantly in her ear. "You've been most helpful."

            And then she was back again, back to being held tightly, back to being safe and comforted and taken care of…

            His lips were on hers again, hot and scalding. "Tell me," he said into her lips. "Tell me."

            She felt his arms pulling her against him more insistently now, hard and demanding.

            "I… I love-"

            _No!_

            "What's wrong, Kagome?" he said sharply, his teeth biting and drawing at her neck painfully. "Tell me!"

            She whimpered. This wasn't right.

            _It's not me…_

            That. That soft voice, fading in her heart. _That_ was him.

            But the man before her was still pulling at her, hissing as she stiffened and brutally forcing her limp again. Her mouth was being wrenched open, his tongue taking from her everything it could; forcing a confession she didn't believe.

            _No, Kagome._ That voice told her, the remnant of a time when he existed within her. _Tell **me**._

            She smiled.

            _Yes._

            And the world went cold and black again; and she was cold and black just like it. Her gaunt prince stared back at her with glittering eyes, and she felt again the places he had touched, the places he had taken from.

            "Awake?" Naraku asked congenially. But she could tell that he had wanted more – he had wanted to break her to his will. And she had not broken.

            "Yes," she said coolly. "I had interesting dreams."

            And she pulled back from his snide embrace, reaching for her arrows; only to realize that she had none.

            "Really," her enemy said with a wry smile. "You don't think I would take advantage of you without also taking your weapons?"

            Kagome clenched her fists at the reminder, but kept her face carefully schooled to indifference. "I suppose I should have expected as much," she said unconcernedly.

            But she felt the heat within her, coiled again and ready to fly where she willed it. Her original plan remained unchanged.

            The girl stepped closer to him again, winding her arms in his with an intimacy that only those that hated each other utterly could understand.

            She looked up into his eyes with the hatred of more than one person, tugging at the part of her that reined in that terrible power.

            "You can't control it," he whispered into her ear. "You will die if you release it, this time." 

Kagome forced herself to look away from his deceiving eyes, then, cursing herself for giving him the chance to sway her in the first place. She found the last straining bond on the thing she was about to let free.

"I don't care."

But her lip quivered ever so slightly in betrayal to her words.

            _I'll be okay. I will._

            She only realized that he was smiling an instant too late.

            And the world was drowned in white.


	9. Duality

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

**Chapter 8 – Duality**

_"The mistakes are all there waiting to be made."_

**                                                            -****Chessmaster**** Savielly Tartakower**

            The pure white pulsed against her body, immersing her, _becoming her. It burned and licked and jumped like flames… but didn't consume her._

            "Not yet, no…" his voice cut through with amusement.

            She noticed too late the glint of a nearly complete Shikon no tama. It was the _only thing she could see now._

            "And now, we'll see if it works the way it's supposed to…"

            The jewel flashed once, darkening to a pitch black, the way she'd seen it do in Miroku's hands before…

            "Yes, Naraku. You nearly abandoned our bargain – if she had not snapped from your trance by herself, it would have been very painful, wouldn't it?"

            "_No! _It can't be…"__

            "So demanding, Kikyo. I just became a bit overexcited – she will still pass peacefully, worry not."

            And the light itself tightened against her, pulling back with a hiss toward the encroaching darkness.

            "Listen to me," Kikyo's voice called to her softly. "We will end this once and for all. You will not have to bear this pain of life any longer…"

            "_Pain?"___

_            "Am I… in pain…?"_

            "Yes," her past self whispered pityingly into her ear. "I see it. I will relieve you of your burden."

            "_But I'm not… I'm not in pain…"_

            And she wasn't – at least, not any longer. The light had curled in protectively around her and the burning had halted.

            "You deny it, then. But I know you. I know me. We are in pain, Kagome…"

            _A blinking light… going out…___

"You begin to think of it again, don't you? The times you cried out… when no one heard you dying like me…"

            _A flat line… a flat tone…_

_            And… she wasn't crying. Why wasn't she crying?_

_            She **wanted to cry! **_

_            "You can't leave me like this… if you loved me, you'd have stayed…"_

_            Her mother's pitiful words…_

_            But…_

_            **Kagome** was fine. Her face was dry. She had to be okay if she wasn't crying, right?_

_            "Kagome… are you okay? I'm sorry, I haven't been paying enough attention to you… it's just been so stressful…"_

_            "No momma. I'm okay."_

_            And they all cried, all of them. Everyone was crying except her…_

            "Yes. You always remembered that. But that wasn't the worst…"

            _"Moving? Why do we have to move?"_

_            A sad sigh. "I'm sorry, Kagome, we can't… we can't keep the house. Your grandfather takes care of a temple up in __Tokyo_,___ he's offered to let us stay there…" A forced laugh. "He said he's very lonely anyway, you know. He really would appreciate having us there."_

_            "My friends are here."_

_            "I know."_

_            "And… and my school is here."_

_            "I know."_

_            But she didn't ask farther. Her mother was suffering. She didn't need to add to it with her own petty troubles._

            "What mattered to us, Kagome?"

            _Grades.__ Grades were important._

_            Her father had been a brilliant engineer. Always coming up with new ways to improve, to add, to create…_

_            He had graduated top of his class. Surely, if she was his daughter, she could match him._

_            "Kagome… you know I don't care about your grades…"_

_            "I know, momma. But I do."_

_            "Kagome-"_

_            "I'm okay, momma."_

            "And it all came crumbling down…"

            _The absolute terror – the nightmare from her dreams.__ She'd never wanted an adventure, she'd always just wanted to be a good girl, a normal girl – she wanted good grades and smiles and best friends to giggle with…_

_            "Give me the jewel."_

_            "I- I don't know what you're talking about!"_

_            Heat. Burning. Falling…_

_            Will I die…?_

_            "Hey Kikyo! Come to finish me off, oh great priestess?"_

_            Don't know what I'm doing, don't know where to turn, someone please help me, please…_

_            "I- I'm not Kikyo, or whoever this person is! My name is Kagome!"_

_            Tearing, screaming as it bit into her skin…_

_            "Hmmph! Now that the annoyance is gone… hand over the jewel or I'll kill you next!"_

_            Running, unaided, the claws over her head…_

_            And… and…_

            "Yes. Yes, there was that."

            _"What… what is this…?" She felt her throat constricting._

_            "What's it look like, bitch? It's a battleground. Obviously, it's been a little bit since it ended- h-hey! You… you haven't seen something like this before?"_

_            What if they were like him… what if they had families… did it hurt, will it hurt for me?_

_            "Kagome?"_

_            Smile. Always smile._

_            "I'm okay, Inuyasha."_

            Kagome let out a choked sob and felt the dead woman's cold, soothing hand on her cheek. "I know you, Kagome. I _am_ you. Let me take you away. Death is not such an awful thing."

            _You're not her, Kagome. You're still you, his voice insisted softly, coming as though from far away.___

            _"Death?__ No. No, I don't want to die, I never want to die-"_

            "Oh?"

            The voice held a small note of curiosity, almost morbid.

            _Not before I see you again, Kagome…he whispered._

            _"I have other things. Responsibilities… I can't let the jewel…"_

            "I will take care of it, Kagome. You do not have to worry about the jewel. It was, after all, in my possession first."

            _"What are you saying?"_

"You can forget. You forget everything you need to while you're there."

            She felt Naraku stirring beside the undead miko, apparently impatient about something.

            _"I… can forget…"_

"You have nothing left for you here."

            _Someone to hold her and comfort her and **understand it wasn't real…**_

            _Yes. I'll take care of you, Kagome, came the dim voice again, barely heard beneath the jumble of memories and pain._

            "I will take care of you now, Kagome," Kikyo whispered to her, drowning out the true voice. "You won't have to bear the weight of life alone any longer."

            _Weight… but that was wrong. She had borne death before as well as life. Death was far heavier…_

            "Don't think of that. You're still trying to take responsibility for others – that is what caused suffering in the first place. All of this suffering…"

            _Someone else's death… and then her own, as he imagined it over and over and cried in frustration at his helplessness to save her…_

**

            Another battle took place, on no less an epic scale; the air outside the castle whirled with blades of air, cyclones and storms…

            "You'll have to do better than that!" Kouga called as another one missed him. "You keep underestimating me!"

            Kagura 'hmmph'ed and wove her fan around her again, the blades dancing from it easily. She knew him better than he himself did… Kouga was much too overt an opponent, brash and open with his attacks. It was really too pitiful – if she positioned this one just so, where he would dodge to…

            There was a laugh of derision at her first attack. It only intensified at the second, which had been meant to brush his arm.

            "Try again!" he mocked. "I'm not stupid!"

            Kagura frowned. So she _had_ underestimated him a little. Or the shards, at the least. 

            Another feint, faster this time… and instead of falling for the bait, he was advancing on her. _Quickly_.

            _Who's becoming predictable **now? she thought wryly. Obviously, the wolf had learned quite a bit since he had last faced her.**_

            The wind user spun away, as light as the air she currently commanded. Her fan splayed wider and swung – he moved closer, grabbing at it. Kagura let out a hiss of surprise and panicked, sending a surge of air to catch him in the chest. The demon let out a whoosh of surprised air as she smiled in satisfaction – but almost immediately flipped to land nimbly behind her.

            And when the fan was knocked neatly from her fingers, she knew she had a problem.

            A clawed hand closed on her wrist as she ran for it, pulling her back roughly. Kouga's sharp nails dug deeply into the tender skin of her underarm; she felt the skin tear as she struggled, rivulets of blood dripping from it. The prince caught her other arm easily, pulling it behind her painfully.

            But she still had her dignity.

            It was probably the only thing she had at this point.

            "And what will you do now?" Kagura asked, carefully keeping the shiver of pain from her voice. "Kill me? Go back on your word?"

            Kouga let out a growl. "You said yourself I never make a promise lightly."

            She forced an amused noise. "So you'll maul an unarmed woman instead? How honorable."

            There was a snarl this time. "Honor doesn't enter into this! You killed my pack and pinned it on someone else – where is the honor in that?"

            The claws were biting into muscle now, and she spasmed with an unintentional gasp. He really did mean his words, then.

            But… the claws drew back, almost as though in surprise. Kouga swallowed behind her… had he really not realized she was in pain? What an utter idiot… so he'd bought her strong act.

            Kagura pulled away suddenly and he came to attention immediately, ready to stop her on her way to the fan… but she was instead pushing her wounded arms against the already bloody kimono, trying to stem the blood with a grimace.

            "You…" he stumbled on the words he had been meaning to throw at her.

            Her arms were a mess of blood and flesh, crimson staining the delicate kimono she wore. Kouga felt a pang of self-disgust. Didn't he have any self control?

            But… she didn't deserve his control. She had done cruel things, heinous acts…

            "Don't waste pity on me," she said abruptly. "You're completely right in your assumptions about me; I took my own life above that of your people." The woman smiled that damn smug smile at him, but he didn't respond to her barbs this time.

            She was trying to act as though it didn't bother her, what he had been going to do – what she still expected him to do.

            Kouga spat at her. "Don't act so unconcerned about it. They were people too. How many of them do you think died for your freedom?"

            Kagura surveyed him coolly, her regal air still intact despite the shape she herself was in. "And how many humans died for your tribe's battlelust?"

            There was a pause. And a mutual hatred crossed the wisp of a line distinguishing between disdain and respect.

            "…leave. Before I change my mind."

            Kagura let out a surprised sound before she could stop herself. Whatever she'd thought he would do… it hadn't entered her mind that he might spare her.

            "I told you to leave! Or has your hearing gone as well as your abilities?"

            Kagura scowled. "Idiot. What do you think would happen to me if I left voluntarily?"

            He acted as though the thought hadn't crossed his mind. And then – she gasped as a claw ripped through her shoulder.

            Just above the place her heart would be.

            "So we complete our deal," he finished. She choked as she looked into his eyes – the bright blue orbs were filled with a fire… and a good deal of involuntary pity.

            "Yeah…" she choked weakly. "Go save your damn priestess."

            He grinned for just a moment, and she felt something above and beyond the pain – a wish, maybe. That things had happened differently. That she had never been a part of Naraku. That she'd had a chance at being her own person.

            Then, she remembered that she would have that chance… very soon.

            The grin disappeared quickly as he realized the utter absurdity of the situation and the fact that he despised the woman more than anything else, with the exception of Naraku himself.

            Kagura decided the feeling was still mutual as she felt the pain tear through her and the world blacked out.

**

            Miroku was silent the whole ride, invoking Shippo's suspicions. Even in dire situations, the monk was usually annoyingly cheerful, actively trying to keep up the others' spirits. Today, though… he was utterly, completely, silent.

            "Miroku…" he hazarded. "Where'd Kagome go?"

            The monk stiffened, as though brought out of a trance abruptly. "You want the truth?" he asked cautiously.

            The kitsune almost relaxed at hearing any answer at all. "Yeah."

            The priest sighed. "She went after Naraku, apparently. Alone."

            A word left Shippo's mouth that Miroku had never heard from him before. The Houshi shot a surprised look his way. "You've been hanging around Inuyasha, haven't you?"

            Shippo glared at him. "Doesn't matter. Why would she do that? Kagome's not stupid!"

            Miroku bit his lip and turned away again.

            He knew why.

            But he certainly wasn't going to explain it to the little boy.

            Kagome's life had flashed before him, before. Bits and snippets, clips he couldn't hope to understand of a cold, lonely future. 

            He had been taking her for granted, that she would always be there, always happy, always positive. Hadn't they all?

            _Stay alive, Kagome-sama, he commanded mentally, half-wondering, half-hoping she would hear it. __Just until I get there… I don't know what I'll do, but stay alive._

            Kirara's warning rumble and subsequent descent startled him back to reality and the priest looked down immediately.

            A castle lay below them, pulsing with a jyaki so great he was certain he should have spotted it from miles away. But battling with the jyaki was another aura, a purifying force that struggled to keep itself alive.

            And down in the battlefield… a wolf, standing over the body of a bloody woman.

            "Kouga!" Shippo cried. "What are you doing here?"

            The prince of the wolf demons looked up to the voice, claws still stained with crimson. "So you're here to help," he murmured, somewhat self-centeredly, Miroku thought acidly; the monk had been intending to ask for _Kouga's help, not the other way around._

            "We need to get inside to save Kagome," the monk said abruptly. "I can't take care of Naraku in this condition by any means, but I can hinder him. Can you kill him?"

            Kouga cracked his fingers menacingly. "I don't care if I can or not – I'm going to."

            _Good enough._

            "There's something else in there with her," Miroku said. "Kirara and Shippo can probably take it out; if not, I'll do my best to finish it quickly."

            None dared to comment on Kagura's seemingly delicate body. But Miroku noticed, as he passed, that she was still breathing shallowly. 

            At Kouga's furious look, he closed his mouth before he could ask a bad question. Other things had to be taken care of, after all.

            _"She doesn't understand… I still have things to live for…"_

_            And if you don't, I can readily supply them,_ Miroku told her, though he was fairly sure she wouldn't hear.

**

            "So… it seems your friend has fallen neatly into my trap," the puppet commented with amusement. "And yet I have you pinned here with a mere pawn…"

            Sango's fist clenched angrily. They had had to move back on pain of Kohaku's death.

            "Inuyasha," she said quietly. "I… I can't let this interfere with everyone else's lives. If Naraku were to win the jewel shards-"

            "We're not going to kill him," the hanyou muttered stiffly. "That would be doing what Naraku wants."

            Her face tightened. "It's not what he wants and you know it. If we can get to the puppet before… before…" He nodded slightly in understanding. "…then I'll be happy. But if we can't, we can still stop him from killing everyone else."

            The boy fixed her with a frown. "Are you sure?" he asked, though his own anger was barely covered by steady words. 

            The taijiya nodded without hesitation.

            "We can go together."


	10. Ordered Chaos

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

Hff. I demand more M/K. I feel like I'm the only one working around here, people. Chop, chop! ^_~ Goes double for you, Bik.

**Chapter 9 – Ordered Chaos**

_"Illusion is the first of all pleasures."_

                        **-Oscar Wilde**

            "Ah, and the monk – right on time."

            Kikyo turned at Naraku's voice, her expression carefully blank.

            "You're to show him the same shadows of reality as she?" the dead woman asked softly.

            The half-demon smiled. "Of course. I will kill him as soon as we are finished."

            Kikyo shrugged as though it were of no consequence to her – but inwardly, her mind absorbed this bit of information with interest.

**

            "It seems strange that we haven't been properly welcomed yet," Kouga growled as they walked through the barren courtyard. Miroku's eyes narrowed.

            "I'm sure he has something in mind. Stay on your guard." The monk tried to ignore the pounding in his chest and forced himself to walk without slumping, his hand tight around his shakujo.

            Shippo shivered from his place on his shoulder. "This is weird, Miroku," the fox whispered. "I don't like it."

            "Neither do I," he admitted. "But the alternative isn't even worth thinking about."

            A snort from Kouga let him know that his sentiments were shared.

            _"Don't go yet…" the ghost of a voice whispered pleadingly in his ear. _"Stay with me…"__

            Miroku turned to look at Shippo with a strange expression, but the fox had not said a word. He paused, blinking. Kouga turned to look at him. 

            "What is it?" the wolf asked.

            Miroku shook his head uneasily. "Did… did you hear something?"

            "No…" the wolf said. "Nothing. Why?"

            But the land was changing, and Miroku let out a curse as he saw that the cracked and pitted castle behind Kouga had suddenly sprouted lush, flowering vines, and the demon's feet were now touching vibrantly green grass. 

            "What's going on?" he swore – just as the surprised wolf disappeared.

**

            "Kagome," Kikyo said quietly, refocusing her attention on the glowing girl before her. "What are you thinking about?"

            The voice entered her mind as though it were her own thought. _"Saving him."_

            The undead woman's lips curled into a smile. "Who?"

            A vision of darkness, and pain, and violet eyes… the death that she had been staving off came to memory, a tearing, biting ugliness that pulled her apart…

            "Ah. I was right."

            She knelt beside her, fingers brushing her hand momentarily.

            _You should save him, then, Kagome._

_            "What?"_

_            I can help… but it will be hard._

            The light around Kagome pulsed in response.

            Naraku's smile widened as he saw the results of Kikyo's efforts. The girl was giving in…

            _"Tell me how."_

**

            "Miroku?"

            The priest turned with a panicked breath at the voice he had heard, bringing his shakujo to bear. The place had been changed utterly, no sign of his companions-

            He nearly died from relief.

            "Kagome-sama. Thank goodness."

            She eyed him curiously. "Who were you expecting?" she asked. Her face turned cloudy. "Sango, maybe? Did you get her mad again?"

            Miroku blinked. "Ah… Kagome-sama…" he said gently. "You do realize that we're not safe here?"

            She giggled. "I'm never safe with you around. Honestly…"

            The monk sighed. "No, I meant-" But he stopped. 

            The castle had disappeared. In its place was a very familiar well.

            "You're going home?" he asked almost automatically.

            Kagome gave him a coy smile. "Why? Do you want me to stay?"

            And he forgot it all, to be with her.

            "Don't go yet," he murmured, and she gave a surprised sound as his hand wrapped around her wrist. "Stay with me…"

            And she was in his arms, just like that, and he was free to care about her as much as he wanted. Because she wasn't leaving. She _couldn't leave him._

            "Miroku-sama," she whispered. "Do you love me?"

            He pulled her closer, but the question gave him pause.

            _Do I love her? he wondered. And then, he realized; the emptiness that had grown in him with the Kazaana, the need to comfort her as she discovered him… because apart, they were each nothing, but together, they could be whole…_

            "Yes," he said. "Unquestionably."

            She smiled at him then, and he felt his world come together again.

            Kagome moved upward, onto her tip-toes, her lips parting slightly… he remembered vaguely another point in time when she had done it, to save him and to save herself from the darkness…

            But her arms were clutching his shoulders to steady her, and her mouth moved behind his ear.

            "Then help them."

            And she was gone.

            The illusion had dissipated; the bleak castle in all of its horrifying despair was revealed from beneath its cloak of wonders.

            And a light that had burned so brightly in his mind until then… went out.

**

            "Now!"

            The puppet pulled back from the sudden attack easily, expecting Inuyasha to try such foolishness – the hanyou's Tetsusaiga hit nothing, as Naraku's likeness dodged it with demonic speed.

            But Inuyasha had not been the only one attacking.

            "Hiraikotsu!"

            The youkai bone seared through the tentacle like fire, taking the boy with it. Naraku frowned.

            "How tricky…"

            And the puppet's gaze fell on Sango, who had used up the last of her strength. The demon hunter trembled on the ground, her energy drained even as her blood had been. 

            Naraku smiled.

            "As it should be."

            And he tossed the other puppet her way almost negligently, not even caring to watch her die.

            "Sango!" Inuyasha called in a panic. "Get up, it's coming your way-"

            The taijiya tried to rise, pulling herself up with a Herculean effort – but managing only to stay that way for a few, trembling seconds before she fell to the blood-stained ground again. She coughed painfully, pulling her legs beneath her with a slow, torturous movement.

            The hanyou moved to help her – but was intercepted by a smirking puppet. "I expected somewhat better of you, Inuyasha," he remarked. "Caught so easily in entrapment; have you never heard of the common tactic divide and conquer?"

            Inuyasha's response was an angry snarl and a descending blade. "You're in my way!" he yelled.

            The puppet made to move elsewhere, but the attack was too quick – the pain of another death assaulted Naraku elsewhere, but he was too satisfied to care.

            Because Inuyasha was going to be too late.

**

            Naraku eyed the soulless body with distaste, but he was still smiling broadly. "The wolf is coming now. Perhaps you should distance yourself from his inevitable rage when he sees her body."

            Kikyo said nothing, made no gesture to show that she had even heard him. Her narrowed eyes stayed on the corpse that looked so much like her.

            "…so you're staying?" Naraku murmured with amusement. "Perhaps you'll try to explain to him why it was needful that she die at your hands instead of mine? No matter; he will not listen."

            The undead woman's mouth curved upward slightly. 

            "I wish to see this played out to its end," she said quietly. "After all, I have been waiting fifty years."

            He bent his head in acknowledgement. "As you wish."

            The miko rose from her kneeling position and walked from Kagome's blankly staring body to sit against the wall of the room. Her hands played over the smooth wood of an ash-wood bow, stained a deep brown by unknown salves. Satisfied that her part had been finished, Naraku turned toward the door with a courteous expression, only befitting for a host.

            It burst open magnificently, but he did not move an inch as the splinters of wood flew past his head.

            "My dear wolf prince," the half demon said congenially. "I see your welcome party was less than amusing. A pity Kagura could not entertain you for longer, but she served her purpose as it was."

            The snarl on Kouga's face warned of an impending attack, but Naraku waved a hand negligently. "Oh, don't posture," he murmured. "If you give me the shards without making me waste the pittance of energy it would take to kill you, I will allow you to go and die as you see fit."

            But the demon's gaze had fallen to the place it had been meant to – and the incoherent mix of grief and rage made Naraku pause a moment to rub at his temple.

            "Loud, as ever."

            Kouga's claw was immediately striking toward his throat, the prince's eyes wide and red with unadulterated fury. "You _bastard_," he cried. "You _fucking bastard!_"

            Naraku did not bother to dodge; the barrier around him absorbed the strikes easily. And as a tentacle burst through the floor to claim the wolf's feet and legs, he thought with a wry irony that the boy had not even thought of the inherent weakness of having faster legs than attacks.

            "You never thought to ask, though, did you?" the half demon observed lazily. "Never wondered who it was that carried out such an act… the woman in the corner is to blame for that particular part." His eyes flickered back to Kikyo, who sat soundlessly in the corner, watching stonily and without any trace of emotion.

            Kouga's furious gaze leveled at him despite his captivity, the youkai struggling pitifully in his grasp.

            Wait.

            _Too_ pitifully.

            The wolf in his grasp had a fox's tail.

            "Die," Kouga told him from behind, an icy calm suffusing his tone.

            And, against all odds, Naraku obeyed him – with a little help from his claws and teeth and feet and anything else he could bring to bear against the monster that had done so many horrible things.

            The feel and pleasure of finally killing him was suffused in other feelings. Bitterness. Hate. Self-recrimation.

            _I should have gotten here earlier, should never have listened to her, should have gone with her…_

            His claws tore into already dead flesh, mauling it further and further until it was worse than unrecognizable. Somewhere in his mind, he heard a feline yowl of grief and sobs from a young kitsune.

            But it didn't matter.

            He'd let her die.

            And there was nothing left to kill… but the cold clay woman in the corner, whose hands had taken grasp of her bow, an arrow nocked with narrowed eyes.

            Those eyes that stared at him without heat, without _life_… like hers…

            "Back down," Kikyo ordered. "If you want to keep your life."

            Kouga spat at her, his claws drenched in his ultimate enemy's blood, the shards in his legs glinting maliciously. His fingers cracked in anticipation.

            "What value does my life hold?" he asked coldly. "What is left of it that you and Naraku have not ripped away?"

            An arrow was loosed without hesitation, but he was much too quick for a simple human weapon. Kouga dodged it easily… or he'd thought to have done so.

            But Kikyo's arrows never missed their mark.

            The priestess's blinding arrow of light tore across his legs, purifying and pulling and simultaneously crippling. Kouga let out a strangled cry as he fell to the floor, his legs open and raw and bleeding.

            But their small group was not done yet – not by a long shot. Shippo's foxfire flew from seemingly nowhere, and hordes of screeching mushrooms filled the room even as an enraged firecat leapt for the clay priestess's throat. 

            She laughed in a voice without amusement, filled with death and despair and everything bleak among the living. The foxfire was pushed back easily, the firecat thrown back with a burst of light. Kikyo let her bow fall to her side as she continued that awful, icy laughter.

            "You really thought to kill me, didn't you?" she asked incredulously. "You watch as her body cools and you deign to believe that killing me would not be killing her. You are truly some of the greatest fools I have ever had to deal with, possibly excepting the demon that is about to kill you."

            The wounded combatants struggled to look around, to understand what she meant, even as the tendrils of smoke that had not been noticed before coalesced into a single figure… one that now held six more Shikon shards.

            "You've been most helpful, Kikyo. I would never have thought that they could have dissolved my body for even so short a time."

            Naraku stepped forward, looking quite hale and healthy once more. "The insult on my intelligence shall therefore go unpunished, for now."

            The priestess said nothing… and resettled against her wall.

            "I can still take you on," the wolf growled. "I'm no puny half-breed like the mutt you deal with." He rose slowly to his feet once more, ignoring the roaring pain in his ears and suppressing it under a haze of anger and loss. Naraku made no move to stop him, but watched a point just behind his head distractedly.

            "Pay attention, damnit, or I'll bash your head in!" the wolf yelled. Naraku ignored him, however, even as he sprung to attack again; the hanyou's lips turned downward into a slight frown as he batted away the desperate attacks.

            "He is not supposed to be conscious yet…" the hanyou murmured. "What has he done to break free of the spell?"

            And Kikyo smiled.


	11. Culmination

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

Well. I could be doing other things than writing. But that would be cruel what with last chapter's blaring signal:   
**PLOT TWISTS AHEAD!** FYI: this fic is getting fairly close to finished. Which means I'll be once again free to work wonders with ALAP. Yay.

**Chapter 10 – Culmination**

_"The secret of a good life is to have the right loyalties and to hold them in the right scale of values."_

                                    **-Norman Thomas**

Despite the fact that he was outnumbered, Naraku did not seem concerned at the moment. His attention was focused elsewhere, dismissing their presence completely. There was nothing he could have done that would have made Kouga more angry, excepting perhaps to kill Kagome; which was impossible now.

            But he found with despair that he could barely stand, let alone attack the abomination before him. He'd lost the shards. He'd lost Kagome. And now he'd lost revenge.

            The wolf refused to look at the pale white Kagome. He didn't think he could bear it again.

            "K-Kagome…" Shippo mourned, swallowing another sob. Apparently, the fox had no such problems with staring at the gruesome sight.

            "No matter," Naraku's voice cut into his musings. "He is wounded – he won't even be so much of a challenge as these fools."

            Wait.

            Was that… uncertainty?

            From _Naraku?_

            A spark of hope lit itself in Kouga's chest. The half demon had to be talking about the priest. Holy power had nothing to do with physical well-being and Naraku knew it. _That_ was why he was afraid.

            That was why he had killed Kagome.

            So with a last grim determination, Kouga waited for the opportune moment.

**

            The glow seemed to appear out of nowhere, a tiny spot of unearthly light on the horizon of darkness.  The puppet stopped momentarily in surprise as the snake-like being curled around it in its path. The unearthly keening of the dead gave them all pause.

            The shinidamachuu had a chosen way; it knew where to go. The glint called out to it, as its mistress stroked its mind and showed it where to go…

            Sango's scream of anger did not give it pause as it wound its way to the boy's body. Neither did the cruel laughter from the puppet make it hesitate. The soul-stealer's grasping legs took hold of the Shikon shard and _pulled._

            The light burned more brightly as it was extracted; the boy's last breath went unnoticed as the shinidamachuu disappeared once more into nothingness.

**

            "Two more," Kikyo said distractedly as her demon appeared before her. "And we know where those are."

            Naraku paused in his unrelenting gaze toward the door to look at her. "Where, exactly?" the hanyou asked in a half surprised, half amused voice.

            Kikyo tossed the shard to him. "One would be on her body," she said, her eyes flicking toward Kagome. "And the other…"

            Both were now looking toward the door.

            "The poor fool has no chance," Kikyo murmured. Naraku seemed to agree with her – a tentacle snaked out to pull a tiny shard from the corpse and join it with the others in his hand.

            "You're doomed," Kouga shot out weakly. "Even if we die… no one can master the full Shikon no Tama. It will consume you."

            The hanyou merely chuckled.

            He was unprepared when a muffled scream of anger came from the door. It consisted of one word.

"Kazaana!"

            Naraku pulled back almost instinctively in preparation, the before unseen hell bees zipping upward between the floor cracks. 

            But…

            No black wind came.

            Instead, during the confusion, a single ofuda pierced through the cloud of hellbees, angled clearly for the hanyou's head. A hiss burst from Naraku's mouth as a blue fire sprung from the seemingly flimsy paper to lick at his body.

            "The last shard is on the monk," Kikyo informed Naraku coolly, even as the ofuda crumbled to nothing.

            Miroku glared at her momentarily from his place in the doorway before dodging the sudden barrage of tentacles. The monk was in pain as he destroyed them; that much was apparent. But he dared not stop to let the pounding in his chest die down. The tentacles, on the other hand, kept regrowing.

            Kikyo narrowed her eyes in concentration. The shard… was…

            The pure light of an uncorrupted Shikon shard glinted from the priest's staff. Of course, she reasoned, it would almost have to be there for him to cut through Naraku's extremities so easily.

            "M-Miroku!" Shippo cried. "Kagome's-"

            "Don't say it!" he interrupted angrily, but his voice was weak. The monk's eyes were wet with denial. "She's not… she can't…" Blood blossomed through his robes, soaking the thick material just above his heart, making him stumble; his staff kept moving even as he found himself leaning against the wall.

            Kouga took the opportunity to tear at the vine-like appendages that held him – but his claws scraped uselessly, as though the pliable material beneath his fingers was made of metal instead of skin. He growled furiously, pulling harder, his claws peeling backward from the effort… the pain went unnoticed as crimson dribbled down his hands.

            The defiant yowl of a cat broke through the air; Kirara, too, was struggling with her bonds, hissing and spitting furiously. The firecat seemed to be having better luck, for some reason – her claws sawed through the tentacles, albeit with some effort. In a few seconds, the cat was free once more, pushing beneath the tangle of pulsing flesh to tear at Kouga's restraints.

            A feline cry later, they were both unconscious; Shippo's cry rang out soon after.

            Meanwhile, the monk's strikes seemed to come with effort, though they came in spite of the spreading puddle of red on the floor beneath him. His lips parted in a snarl of concentration, an attempt to ignore the mounting pain.

            Naraku laughed.

            "I could wipe you out so easily, Houshi," the hanyou gloated, his voice tinged with the drunkenness of victory. "You make so little progress, merely against the little power I've leveled at you." Almost as though to prove his point, the regenerating limbs that Miroku had barely held back at so great a cost darted past the whirling staff to strike him through the shoulder. 

            He bit his lip to hold in the scream of pain that had caught in his throat.

            "You want to look at her, Houshi?" Naraku continued. "You want to see her?"

            Miroku coughed violently, the word caught inside him. _No! Don't-_

            "I thought that was the case," the hanyou said with amusement. "I know you've been dying to make sure…"

            "Damn you," the priest managed, a choke between words. "I'll kill you-"

            "Come now," Naraku said in a friendly tone, still twisting the thing in his shoulder. "If _she couldn't do it, you're certainly not going to."_

            Miroku opened his eyes painfully, trying to take hold of his mind again. But what he saw stopped all thinking.

            Her chalk-white face inches from his, her neck hanging limply like a broken puppet… Kagome's raven hair brushed his face as her corpse fell into his arms.

            "No…" he whispered, disbelieving.

**

            The puppet turned back with a smile. "And so you die, one by one…"

            A sob wracked the woman before it as she collapsed completely. Perhaps she tried to force out a threat, but if so, it was quickly washed away by tears.

            Sango found herself unable to move, unable to speak as the full impact of the situation hit her.

            He was dead.

            Kohaku was dead.

            He wasn't going to come back to her now, he couldn't smile again or fight with her or live with her when she settled down…

            Another incredulous whimper escaped her, and she tried to gulp in air again to fill the hole in her heart. But she couldn't breathe; the only thing she could do was let out another desperate sob. 

The world faded from view… it didn't matter anymore. She couldn't see anything but the last shuddering breath of her brother…

            "As amusing as it is to see you on your knees before me, I'd like to end this pointless battle before dawn," the voice told her, amused.

            It moved again as though nothing had happened, descending toward the helplessly crying woman as she grieved…

            …and stopped as a blood-curdling growl rent the air.

            A form that had not been there before had taken a place in front of the demon hunter.

            In the darkness of the night, the eyes glowed a deep red…

            "Naraku," the demon's voice hissed. "You want it over?"

            The puppet drew back involuntarily, a frown on Naraku's face. Inuyasha cracked his knuckles, drawing attention to the fact that his sword was no longer visible… and that his claws had lengthened into wicked looking points. Another sob from the taijiya caused his arm to twitch in anticipation, his eyes narrowing to slits.

            Naraku's puppet snorted. "Whatever you call yourself, you're nothing but a half-"

            The crack of flesh and bone rent the air, cutting off the rest of the statement.

            Blood washed over his claws in a smooth wave, the potent scent filling his nose.

            _More._

            A sob.

            His knuckles tightened.

            _I need to kill more._

            But the discomforting crying was beginning to push back the red haze… the vulnerable human behind him was assaulting the barrier around his mind, the part of him that called for blood. Her desperate cries were pushing something upon him, something uncomfortable…

            It hit him as the cloud of red disappeared completely.

            Guilt.

            "Sango!" Inuyasha called, panicked. He turned abruptly, the dark desires forgotten. Almost immediately, he was wrapping an arm beneath her stomach, helping her gingerly to sit up. The woman sagged against him, unable to respond any other way.

            "I'm sorry," he moaned. "I'm sorry… I wasn't fast enough…"

            Her only response was to fall against him helplessly, bleeding and aggrieved.

            His shaking hand tangled in her hair, holding her closer as she cried. "I'm so sorry, Sango…"

            Slowly, her hands came up to fist in his haori despite the blood. "It…" She choked for breath. "It wasn't your f-fault…"

            The hanyou glanced uneasily ahead of them, wondering what had happened to Kagome. He couldn't shake the feeling that it had not gone well…

            But he couldn't move Sango. She was too badly injured. In fact, he would have to bandage her very soon or run the risk of her death.

            "Go," the taijiya whispered. "Just go."

            But…

            Kagome had people to take care of her, loathe as he was to admit it.

            Sango had no one.

            "No," he said quietly. "I'm staying." What kind of person would leave her alone and dying with her brother's corpse?

            She gave in too easily, her limbs shaking. He realized then that he would have to start helping her immediately.

            "I'll take care of you," the hanyou said, not without embarrassment. "But you can't die on me…"

**

            "You believe it now, don't you?"

            Miroku choked, hugging her tighter. The pounding heat in his wounds had somehow transferred to his face… something wet was following the curve of his cheek, running down to fall to her face…

            "Kagome," he whimpered. "No. You can't- I won't let you-"

            "Too late," Naraku said in a morbidly amused voice. "I'm afraid she's beyond a miraculous recovery."

            Unobtrusively, a part of him slithered toward the priest's staff, snatching the shard from it. Miroku failed to notice as he pressed himself closer to her, willing his heat to warm her chilly skin. "I was supposed to die," he told her. "You can't… not before me. It's wrong!"

            The shard joined the others in the half demon's hand. Naraku closed his fingers over it as an unearthly black light emanated from the pieces…

            "Kago-" The whispered name was cut off hopelessly. He lowered his head in despair.

            "Wonderful," Naraku said with a smile. "You've done me a great service, priest. Without you, of course, she would never have come so willingly…"

            Miroku's hands tightened on the girl's arms.

            "And of course, she wouldn't have been as ridiculously easy to manipulate. After all, that dog doesn't have a curse that needs lifting before a certain time…"

            The monk felt fire in his eyes as the devilish hanyou continued. "I must attribute all of these happenings entirely to you, I suppose. As loathe as I am to share credit for the victory-"

            "Shut up."

            Naraku raised a brow. "Angry?"

            Miroku set Kagome down gently and rose, trembling. "Unbearably."

            "And you're going to try to kill me?"

            "Yes."

            The half demon's lips quirked. "With the whole Shikon no Tama in my possession?"

            The monk's right hand tightened imperceptibly. "Yes."

            Kikyo's brow perked, and she rose, bow in hand.

            "I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that," she said quietly.

            Miroku directed his glare at her. "Stay out of this," he snarled. "You've done quite enough. If you continue helping Naraku, Inuyasha or no, I _will suck you into this wind tunnel." His fingers clutched at the beads around his forearm, tugging warningly._

            Naraku chuckled. "If you open the Kazaana, the bees will surely kill you." At Miroku's cold hard face, he smirked and amended the statement. "You will _also suck in your only chance of resurrecting her." At this, he held the Shikon no Tama out with a devious smile at the priest's trembling jaw._

            "Helping Naraku… was it?"

            Both turned to look at Kikyo. She smiled coldly.

            "I think you have made a mistake, Houshi-sama."

            She brought her bow fully into her hands, an arrow nocked and drawn.

"I mean to kill him."


	12. Backbiter

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

In response to many, many questions…

Read.

(And don't chase off Kikyo! She's intrinsic to the plot, silly!)

There will still be an epilogue. Do not fret, my pretties.

**Chapter 11 – Backbiter**

_"To know a man, observe how he wins his object, rather than how he loses it; for when we fail, our pride supports; when we succeed; it betrays us."_

                                    -**C. C. Colton**

            Naraku quirked an eyebrow in interest.

            "You damn yourself, Kikyo," he said. "You have already tied your fate to mine. Should you kill me… you will have no way to drag your beloved to hell."

            The woman smirked. "You should never have trusted me so blindly because of a simple sacrifice like that."

            The man smiled back at her. "I didn't."

            His hand squeezed the Shikon no Tama abruptly, sending a quiet wave of miasma toward her; the tangible black fog  roiled menacingly in its journey toward her…

            The undead miko laughed softly as it clutched blindly at her legs. She shook her head and stepped forward, uncaring of the miasma. Naraku's eyes twitched once as her cold, clay arms snaked around his chest.

            "We'll have a time of it in hell," she laughed harshly. "You and I and the Shikon no Tama you worked so hard for!"

            There was a flash; the floor splintered beneath them as the hanyou struggled fruitlessly to pull away from her stony embrace. Kikyo's eyes flashed malevolently as the winds picked up below, dragging them downward; Miroku watched with a horrified fascination.

            "I am the _keeper of the Tama," she hissed. "To think that you willingly grasped your own death…"_

            Indeed, the glass ball had turned pitch black as the miko's hand covered Naraku's; the mist that had crept out from it was snatched away from its creeping death and pulled in by the howling winds of the abyss.

            Miroku's eyes widened in realization. "No!" he cried. "You can't take that! It's the only way to-"

            A splintering feeling in his hand stopped him. The painful feeling stretched, lengthening and dilating…

            _So I die too…_

            The Kazaana fractured; there was a tinkling sound as the beads of the rosary fell to the floor and were immediately sucked into the forming vortex.

            _It's better this way._

            "Damn you, bitch," Naraku swore. "I would never have trusted you but for Onigumo-" 

            "Yes," Kikyo said. "Exactly." Her arms pulled the hanyou tighter, limiting his escape. "So do I discharge my duties," she whispered. "The tama will leave this world – and my murderer with it."

            The winds intensified, both inside and outside of the monk's hand. Miroku winced, falling to his knees and clamping tightly onto his wrist; the fingers of his left hand dug into the skin harshly, and he knew there were white imprints where they gripped the skin.

            He closed his eyes and waited for the end as hell opened up beneath them.

**

            Inuyasha watched her sleep uneasily, his eyes darting toward the north.

            What was going on? Were they winning?

            What if… someone had died…

            The thought caught in his mind as his rough hand clutched Sango's tighter unconsciously.

            _If someone had to go…_ he thought miserably, _who would I hope for?_

            He cursed himself for the thought. They would all come back. All of them. Even that wimpy wolf and the hentai priest and the stupid fox…

            And Kagome.

            She had to come back.

            There was no other way.

            His hand gripped the hilt of his blade tightly for fear of hurting Sango and forced his eyes away from the direction they had been going. 

            _If Kagome dies…__ I won't be the only one unhappy… he thought tiredly. _Sango's lost everything…__

            Furtively, he looked around for watchers, despite the fact that no one could possibly be around for miles. And… looked upward.

            "I never asked for anything," he muttered. "And don't think I'll go praying again after this or anything. But don't take Kagome away from her too…"

            There was, of course, no response. But he didn't really expect one; in fact, he really didn't expect it to work. But it never hurt to try, when such an important thing was on the line…

**

            The pain receded unexpectedly. Miroku's harsh breathing slowed.

            "What…?"

            He opened his eyes cautiously - and choked.

            His right palm, bare to the world, held not a blemish. 

            The monk unlatched his left hand from the wrist in awe, his fingers moving to trace the smooth skin as though not quite sure it could be true.

            He had never been without the wind tunnel. It was… strange. And just a little bit unsettling.

            With a gasp of remembrance, Miroku stumbled to his feet, looking for her body… surely, _surely, it could not have been pulled in…_

            The priest winced at the pain that had stubbornly reasserted itself now that the battle was done. He clenched his fist and held it against the bleeding wounds as he searched.

            Shippo, across the room, let out a muffled scream.

            "Get him off me!" he yelled. "_Get him off me!"_

            His heart sinking to the depths of his stomach in dread, Miroku nonetheless left his search to go help the fox. At first, he wasn't sure he hadn't been hallucinating; the cries had stopped, and he couldn't see any sign of the kit. 

He sighed as he caught sight of the twitching orange tail beneath Kouga's unconscious form. The priest reluctantly pulled his fist from the wound (though, of course, it had not been helping) and slipped both hands beneath the prince, straining with all of his remaining strength.

            There was a squeak of terror from beneath Kouga – but Miroku cried out as his chest twinged suddenly and had to drop him again.

            "Eugh…" came a noise. "He smells awful…"

            Miroku ignored Shippo and searched the room tiredly. His eyes lit upon his shakujo.

The monk knelt for it with a hiss at the pain and used it to pull himself back up again. In one smooth motion, he slipped it beneath the unconscious wolf and levered him aside.

Shippo scrambled out from underneath the heavy demon, panting for air. "Th-thought I was… a goner…"

Miroku barely heard him – his head swam dizzyingly with images of her, still and pale and cold...

His knees buckled without warning; he felt the fall as though it were endless…

The jingle of a shakujo hitting the ground sounded in his ears.

_And she was smiling at him, her eyes sparkling…she pulled away from him, and it was like a rift between them as she ran…_

_"Miroku-sama… come and catch me…"_

He smiled.

"Miroku! You're wounded!"

"Kagome…" he whispered. _His hand darted forward to catch the wash of hair that floated behind her._ _His fingers sifted through it, but could not find a hold._

"Miroku!" _The voice was hers, wasn't it? Calling for him to come to her._

_She was waiting for him. Just ahead…_

He chuckled wearily. "I'm coming, Kagome…" he said._ His fingertips reaching to brush her soft hair…_

_A shivering hand caught his._

_"Don't go yet," she whispered, and he realized she was crying. "Stay with me, please…"_

_His hand moved to brush her warm cheek, his fingers meeting tears. She sobbed and pulled it away, entangling her fingers with his own. His hand felt so cold against hers… it was his right hand, he realized dimly. It was unbroken, now._

_"Come back," she cried. "Please, Miroku, don't… don't…"_

"Move," someone said quietly.

He closed his eyes tiredly. It all seemed so slow… so hard to concentrate…

"Ka-" he coughed, and tasted blood on his tongue. "Kagome-"

"MOVE!" the man roared angrily. "Now, damnit!"

_Her hand disappeared from his._

"I'm sorry… there's no time…" 

_Pain shooting through him… his chest hurt so badly… where had she gone?_

"Sorry, priest, this is gonna hurt…"

_And it all faded to black._

**

            It was… warm.

            Hot, even. Scalding. 

            He moaned; a cold cloth was draped over his eyes, and some of the heat left.

            "If you'd died," her voice said, choked and laughing and nearly hysterical, "I would have had to kill you."

            Miroku chuckled and immediately realized that his throat was dry as hell.

            Quite possibly literally.

            He licked at his cracked lips and swallowed once. 

            Something icy and wet was pressed to his lips; he realized it was water a moment later and opened them obediently. It trickled in, soothing his parched mouth as he drank hungrily, gulping it in large amounts. In between, it stopped a moment, and she pushed something just onto the top of his tongue. It tasted… awful. He swallowed it with difficulty, and the water poured in again to wash away the rest.

            Her cool hand stroked his hair back, leaving trails of comfort in its wake. 

            "Kagome?" he asked desperately. _Please don't let me be dreaming… I couldn't bear to wake up…_

            And without warning, he entered nirvana. Because she was pressing her lips to his and her fingers were in his hair and _everything was right with the world._

            "Miroku," she whimpered against his lips. "I thought… I thought I'd lost you."

            He frowned. "When… when was it…"

            Kagome lowered herself to his chest, her head burrowing beneath his chin pleasantly. "I woke up and… and I didn't see you in the corner…"

            He groaned. "God, Kagome, you scared me senseless. You were just unconscious?"

            She hesitated against him.

            "I… no. I was… I guess you could say I really was dead for a while there…"

            He tried to blink and found that there was still a wet cloth over his eyes. "How can you be dead _for a while?" he asked incredulously._

            She laughed, but it was the kind of laugh that a person makes when they've just stared death in the face... again.

            "Kikyo pulled my soul from my body and contained it in her. She's… she's like a container for them, until she consumes them. So I could stay there a while. But there was a while there in between when I really didn't know what was going on… sort of like I blacked out." She bit her lip and he felt something spatter onto his neck. Miroku's arm moved to her back, resting comfortingly. She struggled to continue. "I saw through her eyes… she…" Her voice choked. "She killed him. She _killed him…_"

            "Naraku?" Miroku asked, surprised.

            Kagome shook her head against him. "No," she moaned. "She killed Kohaku!"

            Miroku stiffened, his hand clenching on her uniform. Kohaku?

            Yes. Of course, she would have to, to get the Shikon no Tama-

            _Can't do anything, God, I can't stop myself-_

            "It's okay," he told her, swallowing the sudden lump in his throat. "You couldn't have done anything."

            She choked. "I know. I should know that. But you can't know… how it felt to _do_ it and not be able to…to…"

            The priest sighed and moved his hand up to her neck instinctively, kneading his fingers into the relaxing pressure points. Kagome's body drained of tension slowly.

            "I saw you," she whispered. "I saw him using me…"

            He pulled her closer still, an ache growing in the hollow of his chest. "All of it?" he asked quietly.

            Kagome didn't respond at first… but she nodded just a moment before he would have repeated himself.

            Miroku sighed, remembering the awful feeling that had frozen him, the feeling of being too late, of never seeing her again, never being able to hold her the way she had wanted…

            The priest brought his right hand to her hair gently, reveling in the feel and the warmth of her, despite his fever. She let out a small, high pitched sound, as she tried to hold in her tears.

            "It's okay," he told her. "I'll take care of you."

            Strange words, for a bedridden man.

            But she let out a long-overdue sigh of happiness, relaxing into his arms. "Thank you," she said wearily. "And… I meant it, before…"

            He couldn't look at her, but he knew she was drifting. "Meant what?" he asked.

            "When I said… I loved you…"

            A shiver went through him at the words… but she had fallen asleep.

            His arm curled around her protectively. 

            "I love you too."

            A pause.

            "I thought it was obvious."


	13. Epilogue

**Cursed Touch**

**By Rurouni Star**

**Epilogue  
  
**

_"To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven."_

**                                    -****Karen Sunde**

                She stared at the well.

            It was… strange. It felt almost empty. 

            Always before, there had been that spark, that jump of power that she felt just by being near it. As though a storm were brewing at the bottom of the wooden bone-eater's well.

            With a deep, trembling breath, she stepped forward anyway.

            _It's okay… I'll take care of you._

            "I know," she whimpered. "I know… but I have to know. I couldn't live and _not know_…"

            Her hands caught her on the well's edge.

            _What will I do if I can't come back?_

            A thrill of terror rippled through her at the thought. But her family… they deserved to know, if she could possibly tell them…

            _I have to. He knows. He'll understand._

            He always understood.

            With a shuddering breath, Kagome heaved herself up and over the well's edge, her feet trailing before her. The sensation of falling assaulted her again…

            The ground rushed up to meet her quickly. More quickly than it should have. The thought flitted through her mind – _why isn't it changing by now?_ – just before it hit.

            Her knees tore; her ankles went taut with the effort of landing. The grains of dirt and bone ground into her skin unmercifully, and the clogging dust rose into her face. Kagome coughed heavily, trying to rise desperately. Had it changed? Had it changed at all? 

            She knew, of course, what she would see when she looked up.

            But it didn't make the cheerful sunlight, the green branches, the chirping birds, any easier to handle.

            Something warm and sticky ran down her leg, mixing with the dirt. She put a hand to it numbly and pulled it back immediately with a breath. 

            Blood.

            The first tear was so easy. It just came without invitation, without need, traveling down her cheek.

            _Mama… Souta… Grandpa… their faces flashed by, memories of them weighing on her heart like wet cotton._ Her friends – the people that cared about her - even people that sometimes annoyed her…

            _I remember when they tried to cheer me up,_ she thought with a shuddering breath. _Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi… I remember when they went through all that work to make me feel better…_

            The remembrance of the awful episode made her smile painfully, even as her chest heaved in the first sob. _And when Mama took care of me all those times when I got back… all the little things she did for me, the things I took for granted…_

            Souta's look of accomplishment, when he had given her all the homework she'd missed, even though she hadn't thought to ask anyone. _See? his expression had asked. __See how I thought up something you didn't? See how I'm taking care of you? The memory of his glowing face led inevitably to his first A, to his first girlfriend, to his fascination with Inuyasha…_

            And Grandpa, when he'd worked so hard for her, even though it never meant much besides the thought. _"There's no demon that can ever get through those seals…"_ She laughed in spite of herself, the irony of the situation apparent. How would things have changed if she'd never gone back after that? Would she always have wondered, always have stopped on her way home to stare at that well and try to remember that dog boy and his shards… wondered if it could have been a dream…

            She realized then that she had, at some point, curled up against the side of the well; that the few trembling tears had turned into a wash of salty grief. It was almost as though they were dead… all of them, all at once. It was more than she could handle, just at the moment. So she let herself cry. And she tried to remember that she couldn't have done anything about it.

**

                "So you and Kagome are getting married and having children by the dozens, is that what you're saying?"

            A pause.

            "Well… yes." _Although I really should **ask** about it first…_

            "Oh."

            Another pause.

            Miroku decided that Inuyasha was taking this _far _too well. Perhaps the monk should have brought Kagome with him, just in case the half demon needed to be hurled into the ground a few times.

            At his somewhat edgy look, Inuyasha sighed.

            "Look, I'm not sure whether to take it as a joke or not… but it doesn't matter."

            At this very surprising response, Miroku's mind decided the hanyou was _definitely acting suspicious. Perhaps he'd meant to add on a last part, a resounding _BECAUSE YOU'RE GOING TO DIE FIRST, BOUZOU!__

            The monk twitched, ready to leap backward out of claw's reach.

            But Inuyasha just sat down heavily.

            "I can't possibly ask… anything… of her," the inu hanyou said. "I left her to die."

            Cautiously, the priest took a seat beside him. "You were somewhat busy saving Sango's life, if I recall," the man said gravely. "Kagome certainly understands that. Do you think she would fault you for not leaving her best friend to die?" His expression turned slightly amused at that. "In fact, she would probably have killed you herself."

            Inuyasha snorted. "I wasn't thinking of that, bouzou, and you know it."

            Miroku arched an eyebrow. "I do?" he asked, intrigued.

            The hanyou looked over at him with a confused expression. "…don't you?"

            Miroku shook his head slowly. "I've been somewhat preoccupied lately. I'm afraid… how did he put it?... my abilities of perception have not been the best. So you may have to elaborate."

            Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably, and Miroku had the idea that he felt like running. Apparently, the hanyou had been expecting Miroku not only to tell him what he was thinking, but to also immediately give him a solution to some problem. One corner of the priest's mouth twitched involuntarily, but he kept the amused smile from his face with effort.

            "…I was thinking about _her_," Inuyasha mumbled finally.

            Miroku felt the smile widening, despite his efforts. "Inuyasha, that tells me absolutely nothing. Who?"

            The other glared at him, as though to say _I know I'm trying to get your opinion, but shut up._ "Sango."

            "Ah."

            Well.

            _Well._

            That was a surprise. How had he missed _that_?

            _You were **extremely preoccupied, his mind supplied smugly. Ah yes. The memory of Kagome's lips on his, her hands raking through his hair-**_

            "So?"

            Miroku blinked.

            "So what?" he asked.

            Inuyasha frowned. "Were you not listening at all, you bastard?" the hanyou demanded.

            Miroku chuckled. "I suppose not. Reiterate, if you will?" The cross expression on Inuyasha's face made him wonder just what he'd missed.

            "I asked whether you think I should help her rebuild the village!" the boy near-snarled. "She's going back, but there's no way she'll be able to do it with the condition she's in!"

            The priest laughed again. "Ah, Inuyasha, my friend!" he said. "_Now I see. In fact, it's much more clear now."_

            A horrified expression worked its way to the hanyou's face. "Wh-what?"

            Miroku winked. "Of course, I'm sure the lady wouldn't mind. The question is if the children would have silver hair or black hair… or maybe a mix…"

            There was a resounding _clunk!_ that could be heard from far away. Followed by a curse. It is best left to the reader as to which man uttered it.

            "I don't know what the hell you're thinking, but you don't see _anything!" Inuyasha growled. "Don't know why I even asked you… what was I thinking, asking a guy whose mind's on one thing…" His eyes narrowed. "And you better not try anything with Kagome she doesn't want," he added, as though just thinking of this. "Just because I'm not busy killing you right now, that doesn't mean I won't hesitate to do it later if she says anything-"_

            Miroku held up his hands in submission. "Of course, of course!" he said hastily.

            The hanyou snorted and leapt to his feet in one smooth motion. "Last time I ever ask you anything…" he muttered crossly as he stalked off.

            But his face was suspiciously pink.

            It was better this way. Miroku couldn't simply _tell_ him how to make a decision like that. Besides, he had the idea that Inuyasha had already made it for himself in the first place…

            "So… getting married, are we?" Kagome asked from behind him. 

            Miroku's eyes widened; he jumped in fright. "K-Kagome…" he laughed nervously. "I… did _I say that?" he asked. "I said… I said…"_

            Hm. There didn't seem to be much of a possibility that she'd misheard.

            She sat down with a sigh behind him, not deigning to comment. It surprised him. Most of the time, she would at least make some kind of remark on his incorrigibility, his inability to keep his mind on track…

            This Kagome was too quiet.

            Miroku frowned and turned around.

            She was staring down at the ground, her arms clutching her knees close. At first, he missed the scratches and the blood… but her sleeves were torn stained in places, just close enough to spot. He moved forward immediately, his hands pulling her arms away from them hesitantly.

            Dirt still clung in some places – the lacerations had begun to clot, making a mess of her knees. He frowned and pulled out his water, unstoppering the top and pouring it over the skin. Kagome flinched momentarily, but allowed him to dab at it gently.

            "How did you…?"

            "It's nothing," she said softly. "Not anymore."

            He looked up then and saw the tear tracts and the red skin of her face where she'd rubbed it raw.

            Kagome bit her lip.

            "I'm sorry," she said. "It was… it was really stupid of me, I know…"

            Despite her defiant resolve, her decision that she wouldn't cry again, her voice was dangerously close to breaking.

            His hand came to rest on hers, slipping beneath the fingers and squeezing it reassuringly. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

            She sniffled. "It's okay. It's… it's better, I guess." Her other hand came up to wipe at her eyes. "I'd have just had to say goodbye… and it's harder when you have to do that… it's actually sort of a relief…"

            But she was crying again, because he was still being so kind even though she may have really left without a way back…

            His thumb reached up to brush at her cheek, and she smiled achingly.

            "Goodbye?" he asked softly. "Why?"

            She blinked and laughed sadly. "I… because I was going to come back, obviously…"

            His breath hitched, and she looked up to see him staring at her, his eyes wide. "You… were going to come back…"

            And she remembered the reason she'd decided that; she remembered how much she'd given up for him and how much he had been there for her and how much she _loved him…_

            And quite suddenly, he was holding her tightly against him, his face in her hair.

            "You were going to come back," he repeated in astonishment, as though he'd never considered it. "I…"

            She let him hold her like that, because it was what she'd wanted more than anything. When she'd hurt like that… the remedy was him. It would always be him.

            "Kagome," he breathed. "I didn't say anything. I thought it would be better to let you go, if that was what you wanted…" his voice wavered slightly, unsure. It was something of a first for him, when dealing with women. "So…"

            She leaned into him, her arms twining around him again. "So?"

            A comfortable pause stretched between them as he searched for the words. Apparently, he decided on the ones that had served him best before.

            "Will you bear my child?"

            She blinked.

            He had the idea he'd made a mistake.

            And then-

            "Yes!" she cried. "Yes, of course I will!" Kagome laughed, then. "In a few years, you…you lecher!"

            He grinned, one hand snaking downward (as it had been wanting to do for so very long) and forging into that forbidden territory, squeezing oh-so-gently…

            Kagome made a noise of indignance.

            "Well!" she huffed. "Well!"

            A pause.

            "If you really must, right now," she said authoritatively.

            He blinked.

            Kagome bit her lip to keep from laughing. "Honestly, you should have seen your-mmph!"

            Miroku covered her lips with his own hungrily, savoring her taste and delving deeper. She tasted sweet and oh-so-desirable, as always; but it wasn't something he found he could _ever_ get tired of. "Thank you," he informed her mischievously. "You will be taken into _serious consideration." And he squeezed again, just to prove his point. She squeaked._

            "H-hey!" she protested. "I didn't-"

            "Said it," he confirmed. "Very clearly, in fact. Not even Inuyasha could fault me."

            And… her lips curled into a tiny smile. "So if I'm going to 'bear you a dozen or so children', doesn't that mean I'd have to marry you first?"

            He froze as the smile widened; Kagome seemed to believe she had caught the upper hand…

            "Is that a serious proposal?" he asked.

            She huffed. "Oh honestly, can't I win just once?"

            And he kissed her again. Harder.

            "You did," he said. "You asked me to marry you and I said yes."

            And Kagome giggled. "Usually the other way around…" Her cheeks flushed from pleasure and absolute happiness and he found himself looking at her slightly parted, slightly swollen lips. "I'll take what I can get," she decided aloud.

            "Kagome-chan!"

            The girl 'eep'd at the female voice from over the hill, scrambling to leap out of the monk's lap. He chuckled, the idea of keeping her back intentionally nagging at his mind; but he knew she was the kind of person to be embarrassed at public displays of affection.

            Exactly the reason he would have to start groping her more. To get her acclimated to the idea, of course. It was all noble and chivalrous and…

            And he was now engaged.

            The idea hit him like a ton of bricks as she went to meet Sango.

            "I'm… engaged," he said slowly. "To Kagome."

            He waited for the fear to overcome him, the adrenaline that represented a 'fight or flight' response. But… there was only a strange pride. A glow. 

            _Well… we managed to come through it all okay, he mused. _So why not?__

            He leaned back and rubbed a thumb over his right palm absently, reveling in the smooth, unbroken skin.

            He could live. He could live like this.

**

            "Yes, Sango?" Kagome asked breathlessly as she scrambled up the hill, still flushed.

            The demon hunter smiled sadly from her place against Kirara – she still hadn't recovered from her wounds, for all that they had been recovering in the village for a week. Kagome remembered having to take care of the poor wolf prince as he recovered – but his pride had been hurt more than his body, and he had had to leave soon after the ordeal. "I just wanted to let you know…" the taijiya said. "…before I left."

            Kagome nodded somberly – she'd known the day would come. After all that had happened… they were finally splitting up. But! She smiled. She had already come up with a solution for just such a problem.

            "I'm going to come to visit," she warned Sango. "As often as I can. And… and you better get happy. Or I'll have to force some happiness on you."

            The woman sniffed, her eyes wet as she laughed. "Of course, Kagome-chan," she said. "I'll work on it right away."

            The former school girl laughed helplessly with her and rushed to engulf her in a hug. "I'll miss you," she said. "Even if I do visit…"

            Sango shook her head. "You won't miss me," she said good-naturedly. "I know you won't. You've got people to keep you company."

            Kagome seemed about to respond – but she looked up abruptly, her gaze centered on a point beyond Sango and Kirara.

            The girl smiled brilliantly.

            "Oi."

            Sango turned around, but not before Kagome saw her smile stretch thin. "…come to say goodbye?" the woman asked uncertainly.

            Inuyasha snorted, unable to look her in the eyes. "I'm not saying goodbye," he said roughly. Kagome saw the taijiya's insecure smile falter yet again, but she forced herself to recover.

            "Well… well goodbye anyway," the woman said, her hands clasped nervously before her. "It was… it was good knowing you. Thank you for everything." She swallowed, apparently gathering her courage – and before either could say another word, she moved upward to press her lips against his cheek hesitantly.

            Inuyasha blushed brilliantly, but he looked away again. Kagome frowned. Well this wasn't going good…

            She poked a finger into Kirara's side urgently, and the cat made an amused growl, shifting away slightly.

            Sango let out a surprised noise as her support fell away; Inuyasha instinctively shot out an arm to catch her as she wavered and, ultimately, fell.

            Their eyes locked, for an instant.

            There was silence between them for that second.

            Sango cleared her throat then and let him help her stand again. One of her arms found its way to his arm to hold herself steady against him. "Well… well I'm going to go back now, I suppose." She took a deep breath. "If… if you want to come visit," she said quickly. "You're welcome." With a panicked look, as she realized it hadn't come out quite apathetic enough, she cast a glance at Kagome. "All of you."

            Inuyasha slipped the arm she grasped around her waist quite suddenly, and Sango gasped in surprise.

            He picked her up gently with it and helped her onto Kirara. "Well," the half demon muttered, embarrassed and trying very hard not to show it. "You probably couldn't make it there on your own anyway. I'll have to keep you on the damn cat."

            Kirara bristled at this comment, but realized that it was only for show and held in her indignant meow.

            Sango straightened. "Don't feel you have to come on my account," she said sharply. "I can take care of myself. I was doing it a long time before I joined up with you!"

            Inuyasha went red again. "Well… well you never did such a great job of it, did you?" he shot back. "I'll probably have to help take care of the village again – humans are pretty weak even when they're _healthy!_"

            Sango's eyes shone with energy again as they tossed comments back and forth, more like normal. Kagome waved, even as Kirara snorted and took off. Sango blinked and looked down at her.

            "Goodbye," Kagome whispered. "I'll see you soon."

            Sango's expression lost some of its luster as she looked down at the girl… but she soon waved back. And, though it could have been her imagination, Kagome thought she might have wiped at her eyes a few times.

            She was still standing there long after they disappeared into the distance.

            Footsteps from behind her alerted her to another presence, but she didn't move.

            "So," Miroku said loudly. "Where shall we go from here?"

            Shippo leapt from his shoulder to put an arm around her leg. "You're not leaving me this time," the fox warned imperatively. "I made him promise!"

            She smiled. And turned to regard them both.

            "Why don't we just see where we end up?"

**...and it ended like that.**

**Wow.**

**I'm _done._**

***smile***

**…okay, celebration over.**** Back to work on ALAP. See you there.**


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